


We'll Get There, Honeybear

by Joysplosion



Category: Minecraft: Story Mode - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anxiety Attacks, F/M, Female Jesse (Minecraft), Fluff, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, Jesse is like a child, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:07:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 36,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27358492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joysplosion/pseuds/Joysplosion
Summary: The one in which Jesse was nowhere near the strongest.
Relationships: Ellegaard the Redstone Engineer/Magnus the Rogue
Comments: 33
Kudos: 21





	1. Vibing

**Author's Note:**

> This Jesse is somewhat based off of me and my personality, and what I've seen how my friends tend to react towards me.

One hit.

Two hits.

Three, four.  
With each wood-against-wood hit, there was a grunt of exertion.

The sound escaped from the window of a treehouse, of which its leaves were stained red. The soft gradient from red to green leaves contrasted against the abundance of greenery in the surrounding area. A cabin stood nested within the leaves, its wood sprinkled with evidence of redstone.  
A girl with her hair in pigtails was pacing in front of the window, gently gripping a drawstring bag in her hands. Both her clothing and bag were handmade. The stitches showed lack of expertise in some areas, and evidence of mastery in others. Especially the carefully stitched 'Red' on the front of the bag. This girl wore a set of goggles over her beanie, which nestled comfortably over her temple. A tunic and belt over a white and gray striped shirt, all stained with redstone. Her face was scrunched up in thought.

Across from her was a shorter teen. They were gingerly holding a sword in their hands, having been the source of the noise for a while now. The teen aimed once more, struck- and was knocked back by the force of her own blow. A frustrated sigh escaped her lips, and they used that anger to strike once more. Thankfully, their vision wasn't obscured- she had a bow pushing away the hair from her eyes. Their dress swayed in time with her movement. A white, buttoned shirt stitched delicately to a denim suspenders skirt, made to last.  
On their feet were mud boots, stained with a generous amount of, well, mud.

In time with another strike, the local engineer spoke up. "Would you rather... fight ten zombie sized chickens, or a hundred chicken-sized zombies?"  
The question snapped the tinier teen out of it, gazing curiously at their friend out of the corner of her eye. Another hit.

_Where's the catch?_

"Just to be clear, you wouldn't have any weapons or armor. So you'd have to fight them with your hands." Said the beanie-girl.

_There it is._

"The giant chickens, definitely." At her response, the girl in the beanie tilted her head, an amused smirk on her face. "Not because I want to, or because I think it would be easy, but because they would be so... different!"

"Imagine their giant feet." Deadpanned Beanie.

"Like I said- different."

"You just want to cuddle them." A sigh escaped from the sword-wielding teen, bringing a hand to scratch against their neck. Beanie barked out a laugh.

"That too."  
Thoroughly distracted from her game of hit-the-target, the teen put away their sword in favor of walking towards a potted plant on a bookshelf. They grabbed a full pouch with the letters 'BM' stitched on the side. On the other side of the room, Beanie continued to speak.

"So, why not the chicken-sized zombies? Are they too much for you, the great Jesse, to handle?" Jesse rolled their eyes, grabbing a pinch of whatever was in the pouch and sprinkled it over the plant. The stem thickened a bit, and a bloom blossomed on the side. A faint scent of daisies wafted through the air. Jesse cut in before the teasing could continue.

"Well- I mean, chicken-sized zombies practically already exist. Olivia, I can't believe you forgot about baby zombies." A soft chuckle broke out from the both of them. Olivia gently tucked away some redstone wire hidden behind the opposite bookshelf. Jesse continued fussing over the daisy. 

"Oh yeah, I can't believe I forgot about that. I don't blame you, baby zombies are... ugh." Jesse nodded in agreement, sprinkling a little bit more bonemeal on the leaves. "Fast little gremlins. Gross. Honestly have no clue how people deal with 'em." Olivia continued.

"Well- I mean, really, all somebody would need is like, a shovel- have you seen Reuben, by the way?" A concerned look passed over Jesse's face, to which Olivia responded.

"Yeah, Axel took him with to get the fireworks. Don't know why it's taking so long, though."

At this, Jesse raised a brow. "Why would Axel suddenly bring along a plush toy?"

Olivia, in turn, ignored their inquiry. "Dunno. So, I've got daylight sensors up on the roof, and if I did this correctly, then the whole treehouse should light up once it gets dark."

"Is that why you got rid of all the torches?"

"They were a fire hazard. You even admitted it yourself the other day!" Olivia waved a redstone-stained hand at her friend. "I mean, sure, they help stop mobs from spawning, but let's be real: they're easy to knock down. Remember the patch that Axel sewed on Reuben?"

At that, Jesse sighed. "Yeah. Okay, I see your point. Notch, that gave me such a heart attack."  
Two months ago, Jesse accidentally bumped into a torch and set a spot of their beloved plush toy on fire. She wouldn't stop crying, even after Axel quickly put him out. Since then, Olivia worked hard researching and workshopping other light sources. It made Jesse feel guilty, but the engineer wouldn't let up.

"See? I'm right. I told you. Besides, I don't wanna leave Reuben alone with a bunch of mobs while we're gone-"

"Olivia, h-he's coming with us." Silence. Olivia sighed, standing up from where she'd been finalizing her redstone work.

"Really?"

"I mean, yeah! What kind of question is that? Of course he is." A pout made its way onto Jesse's face. Olivia, on the other hand, furrowed her eyebrows some more and turned her head away.

"Okay. I'm not saying he shouldn't come." Olivia snuck a glance at Jesse- a mistake. "I'm not! But... don't you think it's a little weird that you bring him with you wherever you go? He kind of makes us look like... I don't know.. amateurs." Jesse sighed, traced a finger down the delicate veins of a leaf.

"I don't see why he's any reason people should look at us like amateurs. He's a brilliant project- one of the finest things you and Axel have ever made together. If you ask me, he should be the one we should enter into the building competition." Olivia's face loosened a bit, looking towards the friend group's youngest member. "Seriously! Reuben's a combination of both of you guys' best skills. Your redstone and Axel's sense of humor, wrapped up in one tightly-crocheted present? I find it hard to believe anybody could see him as a liability. Now- what's wrong, Honeybear?"

At Jesse's words, Olivia sighed. It somehow always fell on Jesse to be the peacemaker or group therapist, despite being the youngest and oh so seemingly innocent. Knowing somebody is, indeed, both a blessing and a curse. "I didn't mean anything by it. I'm glad he's coming. I just don't want to give people one more reason to call us losers." Olivia walked over to the window, gazing out in melancholy. "I'm.. getting tired of it. Tired... of being a laughingstock."

"Beanie, who _cares_ what other people think?"

"I know. I'm just... it wears you down."

Olivia gazed into Jesse's bright emerald eyes, set with a youthful determination that only they could carry. "You say you're not a loser, Olivia, so _win._ " Behind her, the daisy was standing straight, gazing happily toward the sun. "Win so hard that- that the opposition will know how talented you truly are. And, I can guarantee you that you're the best redstone worker in town."

Once again, Jesse succeeded in settling the group's inner turmoil. Olivia smiled. "Okay. Fine."

Both of them turned toward their respective work stations. The sound of a bookshelf being pressed back into place was accompanied by the rustling of a drawstring bag. A daisy, orchid, and echinacea were side by side. Not too far away was a hollyhock, though it seemed to be refusing any help. A bellflower (campanula) stood further away, seemingly beginning to shrivel. The gardener frowned.

_Can't have that, now can we, Honeybear?_

Jesse grouped the hollyhock and bellflower with the other three plants, smiling as she sprinkled the two with a pinch of bonemeal. The two instantly gained health, and stood tall with the other three.

_There. Now you two aren't lonely._

A hissing drew their attention away from their crafts, an alarmed look shared between the two of them. "Do- do you hear that?" Jesse spoke, a wariness in her voice. She instantly backed away from the trap door, hiding behind the bookshelf. Olivia, on the other hand, walked forward. She took a stick from a shelf and held it protectively in front of her.

"Remember what we went over in indoor safety?" Olivia saw Jesse nod. "Good. If any monster comes through that door, I want you out that window."

"Got it." Both teens stood at attention. Slowly, surely, Olivia stepped closer to the trapdoor. The hissing grew louder.

"BOOM!" With a shout, both teens scrambled. Olivia hit the intruder over the head with the stick. Jesse, on the other hand, had a brilliantly unsatisfying run: they tripped over their feet after trying to run to the window.  
The intruder had on a creeper mask, which was hiding the mirthful dark eyes and black hair. A hoodie with several different patches was wrapped around their torso, a gray scarf around their neck to top it off. Sandals and orange-brown pants topped off the brilliant goblincore look.

Once both teens got a good look at who it was, they both groaned. "Axel!" They shouted in unison, dusting themselves off and regulating their heartbeats.

"What's the matter with you?" Chastised Olivia, who was glowering at Axel. "I could have seriously hurt you more than just a stick to the head!"

Axel, on the other hand, chuckled whilst rubbing a newly forming bruise on his head. "You guys totally freaked out! That was awesome." He took off his mask, abandoning it in favor of tending to his new prank reward.

From beside the potted plants, Jesse groaned. "Axel you totally deserved that-"

"Yeah, yeah I did."

"Sweet mask, though!" She took the mask in her small, delicate hands, tracing over the stitches with her finger. "Did you make this while you were getting the fireworks?"

"Yeah, Axel, _did_ you get the fireworks?" Olivia asked, beginning to egg on Axel once more.

Axel simply waved her off, taking something out of his inventory. "'Course I did. Even brought something for the little guy." With a little flourish, Axel held out the windup toy- Reuben was decorated in a rather darling Ender Dragon costume. Jesse gasped in delight, immediately getting to their feet and snatching the toy out of his arms. Axel chuckled as Olivia looked on incredulously.

Admiring the craftsmanship, Jesse began to run around the room, imitating airplane noises as she held Reuben above her head. "Thank you Honeybear! <3!!"

Olivia rolled her eyes, pointing to Jesse with a jerk of her thumb. "You brought Reuben a disguise?"

"We're going to a convention. SOMEbody's gotta wear a costume." He said, probably way too casually for the occasion.

"Reuben's not even alive!"

Ignoring Olivia's shout in protest, Jesse continued praising Axel's delicate artistic ability. "He looks so cool!!" Without rhyme or reason, she continued running through the treehouse.  
Olivia raised an eyebrow at Axel, who all but grinned at her. Sighing, the engineer brought a hand up to her face- both to pinch the sides of her nose and to hide a smile. Finally, she spoke up.

"You definitely got the fireworks, though, right?"

"Yup. Approved, and waiting to be used. I got a couple things to do before we head there, though, so feel free to head downstairs." Axel casually held his hands behind his head, gesturing for Jesse and Olivia to move without him.

"Okay! I'll let Reuben give you some more company!"

"We'll meet you downstairs, okay?"

With those parting words, Olivia and Jesse went downstairs, leaving Reuben with the burliest person in the group.  
"'Kay." With a deep intake of air, Axel turned toward the bookshelves. "Dang, Olivia and Jesse must have been really bored." He walked toward Olivia's side of the room, gazing quietly. After a moment, he grinned. "She finally finished up that project, huh? Good, we don't need you to be set on fire again." The goblincore boy turned toward the plush, which did nothing. Blinking, he walked over and wound up the key.

With a mechanical oink, Reuben sprang to life, walking around in circles like a toy soldier. "There. That's better."  
The scent of daisies catching his nose, Axel walked over to the potted plants. Like an obedient puppy, the windup toy followed. "They're getting better and better with that by the day. Hey- wasn't this bellflower dying?" A gentle nudge to the leg drew Axel's attention away from the flowers, and to the chest nearby. Grinning, he opened the chest- a pair of shears.

"Perfect, never know when you'll need these to quickly make some dye."  
A mechanical oink sounded out from Reuben, and Axel rolled his eyes. They landed on a poster of Gabriel. "Huh. Gabriel the Warrior. Think we'll ever get that famous, Reuben?" Another mechanical oink. "Come on, it's not impossible. Maybe I'll get famous for my sweet sewing."

Axel turned to the adjacent chest, pulling out a flint and steel.  
"Huh. This might be useful in case some of our fireworks don't wanna cooperate." The burly boy hummed, putting his hands behind his head. "Y'know what, we need a cheer. Can we get a hell yeah, buddy?"

The sound of gears and whirring sounded out from the plush toy.  
"Hell yeah. Come on, Olivia and Jesse are waiting for us." Reuben jumped into the boy's arms, slightly winding him. "G-good boy."

Axel climbed down the ladder, carrying the plush under his arms.

"That's everything," he heard Olivia say next to a bouncing Jesse.

"Let's roll," Axel said.

"Yeah dude, roll."

The easiest excitable member of the group giggled and turned, running off into the forest. "Come on!"

And with that, the other two followed. Olivia, in good nature, rolled her eyes and imitated the youngest member's airplane imitation. Axel simply just chuckled and followed her example, not before winding Reuben up some more and letting him follow. That was where the day that would change their lives began.


	2. Both? Both.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The building competition is about to go under way! In the meantime, the friend group has a few nice conversations and a material collecting session.

"I heard a pretty juicy rumor about the building competition, but you guys have to promise not to say anything."

The sound of chickens clucking filled the air as they passed by a giant oak tree. Sitting beneath this tree was the group of friends. Both Axel and Olivia were leaning against the trunk, Axel standing and Olivia sitting. Both were catching their breath after chasing Jesse down a good mile. Speaking of the youngest, they were sitting atop a branch, arms curled tightly around her piggy and legs kicking in habit.  
Axel's eye was shut, and he was taking in the scenery of the forest- it's not like he had much else to do, anyway. A sly grin sat on his face as he waited for the other two to respond.

"Okay," Olivia said.

"Also, it's in two parts, each more exciting than the last-"

"Spit it out, Honeybear!"  
Axel chuckled at the youngest's lack of patience, crossing one leg over the other. 

"Part one. The special guest at this year's Endercon is none other than Gabriel the Warrior him-freaking-self!"  
The girls stared at him, their intrigue overwhelming any desire to take off without him. Axel chuckled at the breathless gasp Jesse had let out.

"Whoa. What's part two?"  
Reuben let out a mechanical oink from Jesse's arms, the latter bringing a hand to stroke his head. Axel gladly continued, gesturing with one of his hands at the teen on the branch.

"Part two. According to my sources, the winner of the building competition's gonna get to meet him!"  
With a squeal, Jesse kicked her legs harder, bouncing off her branch a slight bit. Olivia simply gaped up at Axel, all the while readjusting her beanie. (It had slid off at the second comment; she turned her head so fast she thought she got whiplash.) The burly boy let out a low chuckle and continued. "It doesn't mean anything if we lose. But... if we win? _That_ will make up for all the losing."

Jesse, in agreement, nodded her head. (Her bow spun from the action- it tended to do that, despite it being anchored to her hair.) "Meeting Gabriel..." they let out a breathless sigh, Reuben nudging her in a reminder to breathe once more. "That would be a dream... _and_ an honour."  
Olivia, in her starstruck state, replied.

"Oh, yeah. He's awesome. It'd... it'd be amazing to get to meet him."

Axel's grin only widened, a mischevious look gathering in his eye. Knowing what was about to happen, Jesse lightened up, a couple excited claps going through the air. "Reuben better be careful in that costume..."

"Axel, don't-" Olivia began.

"...the last time Gabriel saw a dragon, it didn't End well."  
Giggles from the youngest filled the air as Olivia rolled her eyes. She tried to hide her amusement, but the smirk on her face gave it away. Axel chuckled, beginning to walk off. Olivia and Reuben followed his example, followed in the back by Jesse.

Ten minutes passed by. The occasional metal thunk of Reuben's body contrasted with the light, bouncy footsteps of his owner. Jesse gladly looked everywhere, although they had already seen this scene hundreds of times before. Axel had his hands shoved in his pockets, clearly fiddling with something in his inventory.  
Olivia, however, had her chin in her hand, clearly deep in thought. Finally, the steampunk girl spoke.

"Okay, so," began Olivia, in attempt to fill the silence, "would you rather fight the Ender Dragon or Gabriel the Warrior?" 

"That's easy, the Ender Dragon for sure." Axel responded, his hands behind his head. "If push comes to shove, I could just hide behind one of the obsidian pillars. Plus, its attacks are easy to dodge."

Olivia hummed. "Personally, I'd fight Gabriel."

"Huh?"

"The Ender Dragon wouldn't hesitate to kill you at any chance it gets. Gabriel is a trained warrior; he won't just kill a civilian. Plus, it's more likely he'd train us some more if we were to spar against him, just to make the fight fair." Olivia paused, adjusting her watch. "After all, you heard of his other titles. Gabriel the Gracious, Serene Cyan Swordsman..."

Axel offered a biteless scowl. "Yeah, yeah. I get it. Those were some really good points, actually. What about you, Jesse?"

"Gabriel, definitely. I could use some more combat training." Axel bit his lip at that response, looking at the slightly disheartened look the youngest member made. Neither he nor Olivia had a response for that. "Besides, he's a member of the Order! Who wouldn't want to meet him, even in combat?"

The older two let out a silent sigh. Reuben just let out a warped oink. "Yeah, I feel you there," began Olivia. "But, who would you rather fight: Gabriel or Magnus?"

"Magnus," Axel.

"Gabriel," Jesse.

The engineer bit back a laugh. "Yeah, I should have expected that. Oh, and by the way, Axel, does your 'source' make posters for a living?"

"Aw man, am I really that predictable?" Laughed Axel, "And- wait, what?"

The three (four, including Reuben) stopped in front of a bunch of trees absolutely decked in banners. Not too far away was a sign that read 'Gabriel Keynote: SOLD OUT.' Jesse blinked as Axel's calm demeanor ebbed away to reveal a regretful and bashful face.

"Yeah, um. My source... uhh, doesn't... exist." The goblincore boy tilted his head down, kicking at a rock nearby. "You guys are my only friends."  
His steampunk friend huffed at the reminder, putting a supportive hand on his arm. Jesse did the same, Reuben coming to curl up against his leg. As if in realization, Axel blinked, and with a hum, he'd attracted his friend's attention once more. "Hey, um... isn't it illegal to use this forest as any form of advertisement?"

Olivia and Jesse widened their eyes at the realization, and a mechanical oink came from beside Axel's feet. "Hey, yeah," began Olivia, "Only kind of advertisement that's allowed is if it's on a bulletin board." A collective frown swept through the group, and Olivia turned to the youngest. "Jesse, can you read the intent?"

"Yeah, hold on- Reuben, come here!" 

A block doesn't just magically bond with another once it's placed. Well, it does.. but just not in the way you'd think. Jesse knew this well. Reuben tailed behind them, watching as she neared the nearest banner-filled tree.  
The older two watched as she trailed her hand at the rod attaching itself to the trunk. The youngest always had a talent for reading intent.

"Doesn't look like they were aware of the law," Jesse spoke, beginning to gently tug it off the tree. The banner came off without much fuss. She rolled it up, then put it in her inventory. "Though they don't seem to intend on going back for these."

"Sweet, free loot!" Axel cheered, at which Olivia playfully rolled her eyes.

"We have to stay focused, you two. We have a competition to win." Olivia exchanged a glance with Jesse, who offered a bright smile in response. The group began walking once more toward their destination, in which Jesse had to jump up to try and steal Reuben back from Axel's grasp. In the middle of the game of tug-of-war, Jesse gasped, clapping their hands in excitement.

"Wait, wait wait!! We're thinking about this _all wrong!!_ " She spun around once, twice, then stopped in front of her siblinglike friends. "The point of the building competition isn't just to build something- we, we have to do something to get noticed by the judges!! After all, nobody can read intent from afar!" 

Amused and impressed, the other two (three, including Reuben) huddled up into a sort of circle, where Olivia offered her two cents. "Okay then, how do we do that?"

"We don't just build something functional, we build something _fun!!_ " Trying to get the words out of their head, they played with the hem of her skirt. "After we- after we finish the fireworks machine, then we build something _jaw-dropping_ on top of it!" The older two grinned wider as the youngest giggled and clapped again.

"You might be onto something," replied Olivia, whom reached down and wound Reuben up some more. 

"If you want to get a reaction out of the judges, you build something scary." Axel began, "so I say we build a creeper-"

"Wouldn't an Enderman be better?" Cut in Olivia, a brow raised. "I'm more scared of Endermen than creepers."

The goblincore boy hummed. "Both of them are pretty scary." 

The steampunk girl gave him a pointed look. "Well, you did scare the crap out of us with a creeper today."

"Why not both?" Cut in Jesse, again settling the group's inner turmoil. "An Enderman fits the whole theme with Endercon, and fireworks fit the whole explosive motif! We could have them in a sort of- of battle position!" On the ground, Reuben gave a mechanical oink.

The older two hummed. "That's not a bad idea," Axel admitted, readjusting one of his gloves. On his side, Olivia nodded. 

"But how are we going to make it look like they're in battle?"

"The Enderman could swing down on the creeper's body, and-"

"-the creeper could be getting ready to explode!" Axel finished on Jesse's idea.

"Huh. I think this is the first time we've decided on something before getting to the competition." Olivia changed the subject, rolling her shoulders. "Do we have everything we need?"

"It certainly won't hurt to grab some more!" Replied Jesse, already readying their pair of shears from her hotbar.

"Let's get to grabbin', then," Axel said. Another mechanical oink.

"We are SO prepared! We can't lose. Cannot! Everybody bring it in!" With the cheer of the youngest group member, the other two put their hands on Jesse's. "Dare to prepare, on three! Wait, no, preparing is daring? Awful, that's the same thing." Axel and Olivia chuckled at their antics. "Okay! One, two, three-"

"Team!" Jesse and Olivia.

"Prepare!" Axel, jokingly.

Jesse, as always, collected the dyes and animal drops, Olivia the wood, and Axel any materials from a cave. In order to avoid harming any flowers, Jesse would sprinkle a pinch of bonemeal on an opened flower's wound, sealing it immediately. They would also be the one to shear the sheep- Olivia was animal-shy, and Axel didn't know his own strength. The three of them agreed to meet back up at the end of the banner trees. By the time they were done, they were sweaty, ready, and eager for the main event. The sun hung around in the middle of the sky, marking midday.

The pitter-pats of light feet bounced off the ground as their owner skipped happily out of the forest, pretty pink plush toy in hand. Olivia and Axel travelled not far behind, pressing sweaty rags against their foreheads. How Jesse got that much energy, they would never know.  
Thankfully, their little trip to grab materials was successful. Jesse had met with the rest, wet from her ink sac expedition. Similarly, Olivia returned with several splinters, and Axel with the occasional scratch from the cave monsters. Satisfaction had bloomed within their chests- they had never been this prepared in their previous competition years! This year, the tenth, would be the one where they would succeed. They knew it. Axel, from the back, voiced his approval.

"We know what we're building, we've got all the stuff for it. We're ready." The goblincore boy grinned, fishing a carrot out of his pocket. The steampunk girl beside him chuckled as he took a bite into it.

"This year, it's gonna be different. I'm not just ready to build, I'm ready to _win._ " The determination of the youngest had infected the two of them, and their minds were now set in stone. 

Jesse, on the other hand, had gotten so excited that they tripped over their own feet. "Woah-" they accidentally knocked into a stranger, who had stumbled and stepped back. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you-" Jesse had began. A scowl etched itself into the frame of the youngest member, scornful and impatient.

"Nice _toy,_ kid."

A disheartened frown made its way onto their face as Olivia helped her up, Axel giving the stranger a death glare. Further ahead, something caught the burly boy's attention, and he protectively stepped in front of the softcore teen. The engineer of the group, noticing the griefer's strange gaze, gained the same frustrated expression. Confusion swept through Jesse as they tried to figure out what was wrong, jumping up to see over her friend's shoulder.  
Her dress swayed with the movement. Reuben's mechanical insides whirred in distaste, and he gave the softcore teen an oink in protest. With a quick 'sorry, Reuben,' she went to ask why they weren't allowed to see past her goblincore friend. An exclamation from Olivia beat them to it.

" _Great. _"__

____

____

"There's Lukas and the Ocelots. Our arch enemies," Axel said in distaste. Jesse's eyes widened in recognition- it made sense now that Axel blocked her from view. The Ocelots were quite unpleasant- annoying at worst and scornful at best. Jesse was simultaneously glad and guilty that the older two took most of the hits from them.

Olivia raised a brow. "The matching leather jackets are new," she began, "there's no way that they had enough to pay for those themselves."  
From beside her, Axel hummed in thought.

"I think those might be hand-sewn _onto_ the jacket."

The sound of a familiar yet foreign voice reached their ears. Aiden had noticed them. His jade green eyes sent scornful daggers across the forest floor, digging themselves into Axel and Olivia's skin. Jesse noticed how they held back a grimace.

"Well, boys, look at this!" At this remark, two of the other members turned around- Maya and Gill. Surely they were going to join in on the 'fun' as well. "It's the Order of the Losers! Can't believe they decided to show up after last year's mess."  
Last year, Reuben had malfunctioned so badly that he accidentally destroyed some of the build. Olivia had to tend to him while Axel and Jesse fixed it, even though it still wasted so much of their designated time. Reuben felt really bad afterwards.

 _Order of the Losers? Really? You had several years to come up with a creative nickname, and THAT was the best you could do? I am disgusted, appalled, and frankly VERY offended-_  
Jesse's train of thought was interrupted by Maya.

"I can't believe it, the fail squad's actually here in the flesh! Gill, now we _have_ to commend them for their bravery."

_You didn't even try._

Gill huffed a chuckle. "Lukas, look at these guys-"

Lukas, having previously talked with the receptionist, turned to his group members. "Let's go, guys."  
The blonde led his group to their building booth. If Jesse were in front, they would have noticed the slightly annoyed look he had in his eye.

"Name, please?"  
The receptionist, clearly wondering what was happening by the look on her face, had turned to the group of friends. As the three neared the desk, Jesse slowly peeked out from where she was behind Axel. Reuben gave them a supportive oink and Olivia took her hand to hold. All three of them had social anxiety, but it was the worst in Jesse.

"Axel, and a how do you do?"  
Despite his mild fear of people, Axel tended to be as polite as possible- when he wasn't griefing or pulling pranks, that is. His friendship with Jesse resulted in him calming down. The burly boy didn't want to scare her with his anger outbursts.

The receptionist blinked at this, a sheepish look crossing over her face. "Sorry- this year is the first year we're doing team names. The Builders Association wants to pick one of the groups for future recreational projects all around the town, and they figured the best way to get to 'know' the competitors is through team names." She cleared her throat. "So, team name?"  
The group blinked at her with varying levels of mortification.

"...we are not ready for this." Axel admitted, an embarrassed blush forming on his face.

Beside him, Olivia winced. "So much for losing anonymously."

Jesse's brain, however, was working double time.  
_Dead Enders? No, that's dumb. Order of the Pig? That's somehow even worse than the Order of the Losers, and it's insulting to BOTH Reuben and Axel. Nether Maniacs? Come on, we're not a daredevil group! Fairy-kei? No, not all of us like fairies. How about Sund-_

"Sundry Symphony." Stated Jesse, surprising themself with how confident she sounded. The confidence in her voice didn't match the heating up of her face.

Axel, beside her, hummed. "That... sounds good, actually."

Olivia had to agree. "It does!"

The receptionist, impressed with the softcore girl's quick thinking, hummed. "Okay, Sundry Symphony. You guys are in Booth 5."  
The newly dubbed Sundry Symphony began to walk into the build zone. There were many more spectators than were usual each year, likely because of both the Builders Association and the fact the winner gets to meet a legendary hero. Before they could be completely out of sight though, Olivia gave a 'thank you' and the other two a quick nod to the receptionist.

The joy of a well-thought-out name quickly dissipated, however, once Axel got stuck in the gate.  
"Honeybear-" gasped Jesse, as he struggled for a moment or two before rocketing out. Of course, Gill and Aiden thought it was hilarious.

Olivia and Jesse were quick to comfort him with a soft pat on the arm, and Reuben with an oink.  
It didn't take long at all to arrive at their designated building space. Axel and Olivia nodded at the youngest, who was quick to seat herself on the ground- not before winding up Reuben again- and felt the grass.

"Well? How is it?" Stated Olivia. "Good quality? Bad quality?"

"Hmm..." hummed Jesse, "...the grass is strong and healthy. We should be fine here, but just in case-" Axel raised a brow, support was his territory- "more balance on the bottom of the structure could be needed."

The burly boy nodded, beginning to speak. "And the stream right there could help if we're all thirsty, or if we messed up on the redstone too much- hold on." Axel double-took toward the Ocelots. "Is- is that a beacon? A freakin' beacon?" His mouth was appropriately open in shock.  
Beacons could only be built with nether stars, which could only be obtained from a Wither monster. Even then, those monsters were pretty hard to fight- the normal civilian would just die immediately. How the Ocelots got the star was a mystery in and of itself.

Olivia looked closer at their beacon, her eyebrows scrunching in concentration. "Hang on," the other two looked at her, "that's stained glass. They- they aren't just building a beacon- they're building a rainbow beacon."  
The engineer pursed her lips, a defeated look coming over her face. "We're... gonna lose."

"Hmm.. nah. Our design's way cooler!" Cheered Jesse, Reuben following their example.

"It's a beacon, Jesse." Axel deadpanned.

"It's a beacon, Axel! All it does is just- sit around. If enough precious material is around it, then it'll give off effects, but big woop! How would they have both a beacon _and_ precious mining material?" Axel and Olivia seemed to be considering her words, but were not all that sold yet. "Fireworks, on the other hand? Boom! Eye-catching, sudden, explosive, colorful! Even more so than a beacon!"  
The older two looked at each other with a somewhat tired face. That tired face broke off into a grin, and suddenly both of them were chuckling at the youngest. "We even have a mascot! Isn't that right, Reuben?" The windup toy gave off a mechanical squeal.

The voice of Gill broke up their joy once more. "Haha! Look, it's the Order of the Losers. Again."

"Good one, Gill!" Maya drawled.

Jesse sighed as Axel once more stepped in between them and the opponents. "What do you want?"

"Checking out the competition," replied Aiden, "won't matter anyway, our build's the one that's gonna be featured at Endercon. You can look at it all you want later!" His jade eyes continued staring down the engineer and the griefer, briefly travelling over the plush toy on the ground.

"You're being unpleasant," pointed out Olivia, who looked more tired than anything.

"Maybe not all of you," ignored Aiden, "Endercon doesn't allow outside food or drink."  
The windup toy snuffled at that. The Sundry Symphony stared blankly at the Ocelot, who seemed to shrink a little under their blank gaze. "I'm talking about your toy," he drawled, in an effort to get one more in.

A confused smile made its way onto Jesse's face, who looked at him awkwardly from behind Axel. Olivia raised a brow. "Are... are you insulting us, or giving us the weirdest compliment in the world?"  
Realizing his threat was ruined halfway to Mars and back, Aiden looked about ready to try again, only to be interrupted by Axel.

"If you want to eat Reuben, you're going to have to get through me first." The confidence in his voice threw the Ocelot for a loop, and what happened next definitely defused the situation.

"VORE!" Jesse's shout, guised as a cheer, had Gill and Maya spluttering.

" _NO-_ " Olivia, in the tone of a cat mom trying to prevent said cat from doing something.  
Axel burst out into boisterous laughter, completely forgetting about the situation entirely. Olivia was already giving Jesse a bit of a scolding. "That's- no- you don't _say_ things like that-" The goblincore boy howled once more in laughter once he saw the red and horrified face Aiden had made.

At the commotion, Reuben had begun running around the building plot, making mechanical thunks as he went.  
The receptionist wanted nothing more than to quit her job.


	3. The Intricacies of Intent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ah, the building competition! The same competition that Sundry Symphony had failed for 9 consecutive years. They're sure that this one will be different, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I posted two sketch dumps to my Tumblr about this AU! I'm considering calling this AU Honeybear!Jesse, but what do you guys think?
> 
> [Sketch Dump 1!!](https://joysplosion.tumblr.com/post/633921031532412928/heres-some-sketches-for-my-mcsm-au-the-link-to)  
> [Sketch Dump 2!!!](https://joysplosion.tumblr.com/post/633966379553423360/jesse-fell-asleep-on-the-couch-again-bonus-jesse)

Lukas was never much of a confrontational person. The only conditions which called for him to shout were annoyance, anger, or straight-up fury.  
In this case, it was annoyance. It was tedious, trying to keep his nutcase friends on track instead of messing with the opposition. They've been doing this for years; dancing a dance that would end in nothing more but wasted opportunity. Sometimes Lukas would stay up at night, wondering what kind of tedium he'd have to go through the next day.

The Sundry Symphony, as he'd overheard, had a much more cohesive dynamic.  
Axel was clearly the protector of the group. Lukas had seen him time and time again making sure that their building structures were stable, and he'd catch Olivia and Jesse if they were to fall. Olivia, meanwhile, was akin to the leader. She kept the other two on track, and would give them any feedback on their work; what they lacked in, and how they could improve. Olivia was also, clearly, very skilled in redstone and machinery. She would handle most of redstone, with Axel helping on occasion. Axel's redstone was about average to intermediate; Lukas saw him complete an entire section of their build last year on his own when Jesse had gotten up to get some snacks. Speaking of the youngest, the entire group seemed to rotate around her.

There was no doubt in the blonde's mind that the teen was a walking ball of serotonin. He saw her cheer up the team when they were down. He saw how Axel visibly relaxed and calmed down in Jesse's presence. Olivia reacted almost the same way, except she seemed to hover around the softcore teen in a mother-hen like fashion. Jesse had a talent of cheering up whoever she was nearby, even if they weren't aware of it.  
Lukas even saw the effect she had on himself and his teammates. Around her, Lukas felt... relaxed, almost as if most of his stress ceased to exist upon an invisible bubble in effect only around Jesse. He couldn't say the same for his teammates, they seemed to react to this positive energy as a threat.  
In response to his teammates lashing out on the Symphony, Axel and Olivia would take the blunt of the blow- almost as if Jesse were a valuable treasure. (Lukas didn't doubt that she was.) Not only that, but she could read _intent._ That was truly a skill worth of appreciation- most players simply thought blocks blended together by forces other than themselves. Indeed, intent was something reserved for the most observant of people, the most sympathetic of people, the most... well, Lukas didn't have anything else to add to that sentence.

Anyway, intent, from what Lukas knew of it, was the specifics in how blocks bonded together and _why_. The best visible example of intent was when somebody made tools- the materials would automatically blend together in a way that would either fit the crafter, or whoever the crafter was going to gift the item to. Even in the case of the latter, the resulting item would only fit the gift receiver as closely as their relationship. It was beautiful, Lukas believed.  
Though, he knew that it was much more complicated than that, even in normal building materials. From what he understood, intent could be read in several different ways- from patterns, to poems, to even musical pieces and glitter and swirls. The patterns each depended on who built or crafted the item- what their personality was like, what they felt at the time of crafting, what their deepest interests were, etc. They were akin to runes, and while a really skilled builder would be able to read _some_ intent, only somebody like a witch or a potionologist would be able to completely decode it. Jesse seemed well on her way to be able to decode intent entirely.

Now _that_ was something special. 

The sound of laughter drew Lukas away from his intense deep-dive of the mind. Axel, from the next booth over, was kneeling on the ground with tears in his eyes. It seemed he was laughing so hard he couldn't breathe properly.  
In confusion, Lukas looked at the rest of the scene- Olivia was _scolding_ (???) Jesse as the latter stared up at her with a mischievous and victorious smirk. He gazed at his teammates- why were Gill and Maya so shocked and embarrassed? And Aiden- oh, Aiden looked the worst. Just _what_ did Jesse say or do that caused Aiden to look comically ashamed, embarrassed, and shocked?

_...I don't want to know._

In a split-second decision, he called for his teammates- surely, the competition was about to start. What were they even doing over there? "Come on, guys. It's about to start."  
The three snapped out of it, looking over to him and then to the Symphony (with a weirded-out stare, Lukas noted) before walking further into their booth. And then, against Lukas' better judgement, he had asked what happened. "So, um. What's with those faces?"

Maya, her face previously more blank and shocked, had scrunched up into a look of disgust. "...one of Aiden's insults got out of hand."

A stern look crossed the blonde's face, and he turned to the other two boys. "You didn't start a fight, did you?"

"No! No," Gill said. "Just.. not that. No."  
Now thoroughly confused, he turned to Aiden.

"...vore."

"...vore?"

"Vore."

"I don't see what that has to do with-" Aiden quickly cut him off.

"...I told them Reuben looked delicious. Axel said 'if you want to eat him, you'll have to get through me!' And then Jesse shouted 'vore.'" A mix between disgust, concern, and embarrassment washed over him. "...I really should have thought about that one."

Lukas tried to stifle the giggles. "Yeah- yeah you should have." At the offended look the brunette gave him, Lukas only laughed harder.

Aiden's look turned into a glare, and Lukas tried to calm himself down.  
Gill and Maya looked at each other, the same vaguely uncomfortable look they used whenever they knew things were out of their league. Before they could continue their nonverbal conversation, the receptionist's voice cut through the crowd, effectively drawing everyone's attention to the middle of the building grounds. She was standing on a stage of stone, gesturing towards each of the competitor booths. Aiden's glare melted to nothing, and Lukas's laugh began to die out in his chest.

"Ladies, gentlemen, and variations thereof!" Out of the corner of his eye, Lukas noticed the other team putting themselves back together. "Welcome to the Endercon Building Competition!"  
She paused for a moment, letting the crowd give off a small cheer. There were at least a couple hundred people, not including the people actually inside of the building grounds. From the spectator stands people from all over the world have gathered, eager to see who will win and who would catch the eye of the Builder's Association. The receptionist continued, adjusting the glasses on her face.

"The winners of this year's competition will have varying degrees of prizes! For third place, that group will be offered copper buttons, a free pass for all of Endercon's games, and four stacks of emerald chips!" A slightly louder cheer came from the crowd- most things cost 2-4 beads (the official term for the emerald chips). A stack of 4 beads would be enough for a trip to Redstonia and back. "For second place; iron buttons, a free pass for all of Endercon's rides, EIGHT stacks of beads-" the crowd gasped, eight stacks of beads was enough to commission a professional builder to build a fancy two-story home, "-and an invite from the Builder's Association to work for the city as the town's newest recreational builders!"

Whispers began to break out through the crowd. The Builder's Association was an elite building group, and oftentimes only graduates from Redstonia and other fancy towns had a place in it. It would be an honour to land in second place- even more so that the group's builds would be featured all around town, becoming potential tourist spots. Surely, if the town were to get tips from these builds, the group would accumulate enough wealth to travel the world three times over.  
Then.. if a group THAT big was meant for the _second_ place, just how special was the prize for winning _first_? Oblivious to the starstruck gaze of the crowd, the receptionist continued. Her look swept through the crowd- a warm ray of light on a chilly day- a knowing look in her eyes. 

"And for FIRST PLACE..." the crowd held their breaths, almost as if the information the receptionist was about to disclose was not meant for their ears. In a way, they were right. "Gold buttons, a free pass for ALL of Endercon's festivities, TWELVE stacks of beads-" the Ocelots and the Symphony stared. Never before were the prizes so expensive, even last year! Truly, Endercon had become famous all around the world. "-and not only will they have their build featured at Endercon later today," cheers rose up before the receptionist was even done speaking, "but they will have their own PRIVATE meeting session with Gabriel the Warrior after the keynote!"

It was understandable that the crowd went absolutely apeshit. Not even Olivia and Lukas were immune to the excitement!

"PRIVATE?" Screeched Jesse, who was holding an overheating Reuben in her hands. The information had likely overloaded his hard drive. "Axel, you didn't mention anything about an interview!"  
The tallest member of the Symphony hadn't known this either. He stood, starstruck, at the intel. Suddenly a grin broke out over his face and he grabbed Olivia and Jesse in his arms, swinging them around in a fit of absolute joy.

"What'd I tell you two, huh?!" The burly boy let the petite girl crawl onto his shoulders, and he held Olivia bridesmaid style. "I TOLD you two that the winners would meet him! And what did you two decide to do?" Laughter exploded from the two girls as he continued spinning around- his balance was always good, even while carrying the two of them. "You decided to play 'Which Would You Rather Fight!' See? I don't joke ALL the time!"  
Olivia had her hand on her forehead, gasping for breath as the goblin of a man pranced around the booth. Reuben had started JUST recovering from overheating when he started making loud, mechanical noises, clearly excited from the news. Jesse had her arms wrapped tightly around Axel's forehead, and the two had done this so many times before that extra safety precautions were not made in case Jesse lost their balance.

"You weren't joking!" Chanted the youngest, her bow spinning away in her hair.

In the booth next to them, Olivia spotted the Ocelots performing a rather intricate and well-practiced handshake. "Whoa,,, handshake! We- we don't have a handshake!" She looked up at her two siblings, both who looked at her with varying levels of interest. In the background, the receptionist began chatting away, as the crowd had begun dying down. 

Jesse responded to Olivia's distressed response. "So what? We don't need a handshake!"

"I disagree, I think a handshake would be pretty cool," Axel said.

"It's two against one, Jesse, we have to make a handshake now."

"What- no!" Argued the youngest, "no we don't!"

"Handshake, handshake, handshake..." chanted Axel, and soon Olivia joined in. A disappointed sigh escaped Jesse's lips, they tended to do this whenever she disagreed with something the other two wanted to do. 

"Fine, handshake. Uh, what should we call it?"

"The Redstone Rap!" Olivia immediately offered, followed by "Builder Bump, maybe?"

"No way," Axel intervened. "The Griefer Grab! No, no wait, the Warrior Whip!"

"No, no.. Alchemy Alibi! Wait, none of us know alchemy..." Jesse and Axel chuckled at this.

"How about... Harmonious Haze?" Jesse finally offered.

"So, we have plenty of options now. Okay, let's go over the pros and cons of each of these," Olivia said. "Every one of those names, except for the Haze, each has a specific class." Axel put her down so she could begin pacing- she tended to do that while in a deep state of thought. "Builder Bump sounds good, but I'm not a very good builder on my own. You two have the best skills in that." 

Axel hummed in agreement. "And the Redstone Rap only really applies to you and I. Jesse's downright terrible with that stuff." All three winced at the reminder.  
The first time Jesse had tried doing redstone, they got varying degrees of burns and shocks on their hands as a result of miswiring and an overabundance of power. That was only their second competition, and security had to come in so they could offer the group first aid. From then on, only Axel and Olivia were allowed to handle redstonery. Jesse still has the scar on her left hand as proof.

"The Griefer Grab doesn't apply to Olivia, either," Jesse began. "She wouldn't touch a TNT block with a 50-foot stick."

"True," Axel said. Jesse continued.

"And, like Olivia said earlier," Olivia was winding up Reuben again, "none of us have any skills in alchemy. So, that only leaves the Haze and the Whip."

"Yes, but none of us can really be considered a warrior." Olivia cut in, gesturing with her hand at Jesse as she finished up with Reuben. "We only have, like, average fighting strength. None of us would last long in a horde at all." 

"Except maybe a horde of skeletons," Jesse derailed.  
It was true, they were ridiculously skilled against fighting skeletons. Why? Well, how else would Jesse get all the bonemeal she needs for their garden? It began as a hobby, but then it quickly grew to a hyperfixation. On the plus side, they didn't need to buy their own fruits or veggies anymore. On the negative side, they all escaped those experiences with perhaps _too_ much knowledge on how to treat an arrow wound.

"You're getting off track, Jesse." 

"Sorry."

"So, it's settled then? The Haze?" Axel agreed, finally putting down the youngest. "It fits our team name AND it makes us sound mysterious, so I'd give it a win."

"Of course you'd think that." Olivia teased. "Okay, let's bring it in."

To say that they were better with their naming skills than their handshake would be an understatement. They tried going for a clap in the middle, but Axel's hand slipped and almost pushed Olivia in the face. In response, Olivia had dodged, accidentally knocking both herself and the youngest to the ground.  
They sat in that position for a moment, trying to figure out what exactly had just happened.

A silent agreement seemed to pass through the group:

_Let's forget this ever happened._

"Just like that, I'm nervous again." Olivia said, ever the realist.

It seemed like the receptionist's speech was finally over- they had memorized the rules and the speech itself by the fourth convention. Listening to the damn thing once again would be like hitching a piggy-back ride on a zombie pigman in the Nether. With a gavel in hand, the receptionist spoke, the tool hovering gently over a bell. "Building... starts... now!"

The Symphony had danced this dance several times before, and hence, they knew how they wanted to perform it.  
Axel did the foundation of the build. His being a griefer gave him a good sense of when and where a build is stable or not. The goblincore boy also helped Olivia with redstone every once in a while, when there was too much for her to do. Olivia's main job was the redstone work- understandable, since she _was_ the redstone expert of the group. Jesse, on the other hand, didn't really do much with the main build. They were more the moral support, and she would replenish the other two with snacks when their energy was running low. She would fetch any additional materials they were missing, and would buy them snacks, drinks, and occasionally gifts. Then, when the older two were done with their parts of the build, it was Jesse's job to make it look cleaner and more cohesive.

They even got fourth place three years ago because of that skill of hers. Jesse was better with color palettes, patterns, and designs in general- Olivia didn't have a sense of color theory and Axel much rather have everything in a random order than anything else. Because of this, they all agreed that Jesse would be the one to handle the Enderman and Creeper this year. It would be the most work she'd ever done in one of these competitions.  
If Olivia and Axel agreed to let her try more fair foods this year than any other year, they wouldn't tell. They certainly would pool most of their total beads in Jesse's currency bag when she wasn't looking. Axel had to beg Reuben not to say or do anything about it- the plush toy monitored the group's physical health and recommended healthy foods based on what they'd had earlier. (Olivia programmed that into Reuben after she noticed all their pie had gone missing, courtesy of Axel.)

As Axel began the foundation, it was Olivia and Jesse's job to make sure the grass lay flat. If the foundation stuck too much to the grass, it would be difficult for the event organizers to rid of or wheel away the build. After that was done, they let Axel go wild.

"So, how long do you think it will be until he's done this time?" Jesse asked, gently petting Reuben as she went. 

"I don't know," Olivia said. "He gets better and better with these things by the year."

The softcore girl hummed. They were currently laying her head in Olivia's lap as the latter began braiding their hair. "That's right, didn't he make the foundation in.. like, thirty minutes two years ago?" 

"That's right, he did!" Gasped Olivia. "Saved us a lot of time."  
The building competition usually lasts for about two hours and thirty minutes, starting at 2:00 and ending at 4:30. Building the foundation and setting up the redstone typically took up a lot of the time- an hour each for the average builder. The last thirty minutes were usually reserved for cleaning up and decorating the build. Also, it left plenty of time afterwards to explore the convention, and left more than enough time for the spectators to get hungry. The snack booth and merch stand were the main way the event profited, so they could pay people like the receptionist and the judges. 

"Wasn't a good redstone year, though."

"No, no it wasn't." Jesse agreed. They don't talk about that year often.

"So," Olivia began, "would you rather fight Axel or Magnus the Rogue himself?"

"Axel, definitely. Magnus wasn't known for mercy." Jesse flinched after she'd said this, she read books published by residents of Boom Town who had a one-on-one spar with the Rogue himself, and they barely came out alive. There was even one guy, Jesse recalled, that had lost an arm after he poked the Raging Reseda Rogue in the eye.

Olivia nodded. "Wise choice. I'd go with Axel too, even though he drives me crazy."

This time, Axel was done building the foundation in 25 minutes.  
A person gets faster and faster at building as they practice, so it wasn't that much of a surprise. As Axel retreated back over to Jesse, Olivia had taken his place, beginning to lay down the redstone.

The goblincore boy picked Jesse up bridal style, sitting down on the floor anyway. His eyes hovered over Jesse's suddenly braided hair, and immediately understood what they'd been doing while he was working. Wordlessly, Jesse slipped him a packet of dried seaweed. The griefer nodded at her, then proceeded to scarf down a quarter of the bag.  
They sat for about seven minutes in serene silence, and when Axel was finally finished with his snack, he began to speak. 

"So, Sundry Symphony, huh?"

"Yep!" Jesse said.

"What option was it?"

"Number five."

Axel hummed. "Your other options?"

"Well, one of them was Order of the Pig-" Jesse began.

Axel playfully scoffed. "Wow Jesse, how rude. I can't believe you're being so rude."

The youngest giggled at this, playfully swatting at his arm. "Keep this up and you won't get anymore snacks!"

"Nooo, the snacks! How dare you withhold the salty goodness from meee~" Axel whined. Olivia, from the build, looked over and chuckled. 

"Haha, yes! Bad Goblins don't get the crunchies."

"Jesse, you have betrayed me. My crops have shriveled, my wig has been snatched, and my hotel is no longer Trivago."

Lukas watched the two of them perform their playful banter. Behind him, Gill and Maya were having a full-out argument over the order in which the colors would be placed, and it got to the point where Aiden was very rudely asking them to finish it up. Meanwhile, Axel and Jesse seemed to take each other's words in mind and make them bounce off of each other. Now that he thought about it, it was the same with the other two combinations, but to different varying degrees. It was definitely more calm in an Olivia and Jesse argument, and a Jesse and Axel argument seemed more playful than anything, but an Olivia and Axel argument? They made it seem like a competition on who could get the most hits in.  
Despite the banter, from what Lukas could see, they all still clearly cared about one another. The Ocelots were an entirely different story. One of them would ignore the other after a spectacularly hideous argument, and it either came to Lukas or Gill to urge them to talk it out. Meanwhile, in the Symphony, it was like they already understood and respected the opinions of another, even when Jesse had to come play peacemaker.

It wasn't until Lukas heard Aiden cursing that he realized he was needed.  
He had to pull apart a dueling Maya and Gill, who were both using unlit redstone torches as makeshift swords. It would have been entertaining, if not for the absolute force Gill was putting behind it and the hair-pulling that Maya was doing. A sigh escaped the blonde's lips as he wistfully looked over to the Symphony.

Axel was carrying Jesse over his head, shouting to the heavens about how he would sacrifice her to the 'Snack Master' in order to get his snacks. It was highly entertaining, Lukas realized, because he found himself snickering as Jesse proceeded to shout in response to this.

"You fool! _I_ was the Snack Master all along! Bow down to me, heathen, and know the damage of my wrath!"

Axel screamed as she suddenly spun onto his shoulders and took him in a headlock. "NO, NO! I'M SORRY! I'm sorry, Snack Master! Please forgive me!" 

"NEVER!"

"AAAAAA-"

How Axel let her beat him, Lukas will never know.  
The entire wrestling match was very entertaining, especially when Olivia had to shout down at them from halfway up the build. Even though Axel lost, he won a packet of seaweed for entertaining Jesse. 

About 30 minutes into Olivia placing down the redstone did things get interesting.  
Axel had been snacking on apple slices when a freckled hand snatched away a slice. 

"Hey-" as he turned toward the culprit, his eyes lit up in recognition and a smile crossed his face. "Petra!"

"Hey Axel. Guys." Petra casually responded, her pickaxe swung over her shoulder. She waved the apple slice in front of the goblincore boy's face, as if to taunt him, before popping the entire thing in her mouth. 

"Was that really necessary?" He had asked, gaining a gentle shove to the shoulder in return. 

"Yeah," Petra said.

"Petra!!" Jesse had gasped from halfway up the tower- Olivia had asked her to fetch some torches for her. "Petra, hi!!!" The youngest member happily waved toward the redhead. She made a show of stumbling down the tower in order to greet the resident go-getter. Olivia, drawn by the excited gasps of Jesse, had followed the youngest's example.

"Heya, Jesse, 'Livia." Petra held back a chuckle as she dodged a hug from the softcore kid. It was like a game, really- Petra wouldn't be caught dead hugging the younger girl, and Jesse wanted to make sure all of her friends got hugged at least _once._ The brunette had yet to succeed. "How's the build going?"

"Pretty well, actually," replied Olivia. The entire group ignored the fact that Jesse was still trying to get her hug. "I only _just_ placed down a quarter of the redstone."

Petra nodded in understanding. She was just as bad as Jesse in terms of machinery, if not worse. "Gotta be time consuming."

"Oh yeah, you don't know the half of it."

"Give me a moment, and I'll be right up there with you, 'Liv." Axel said, scarfing down a couple slices.

A few minutes passed by. Petra was still the winner in the impromptu game of hug-tag. The sound of footsteps interrupted their game.

"Hey Petra," Lukas began, walking towards the group. "I forgot to thank you for that Nether star."

"Hey Lukas. Not a problem."

Axel gave Petra an questioning look, putting the snack container away in his inventory. "You helped them?"  
It was no secret that Axel despised the Ocelots. Petra didn't blame him, they tormented him and his friends for years. She wondered if he ever noticed Lukas didn't participate in or try to feed the teasing in any way, shape, or form. Maybe she could change that this year, Lukas wasn't that bad.

"For the right price, I'll help anyone," she said in a shrug. Petra began to walk off- she still had something she needed to do. "If you need anything, you guys know where to find me."

Olivia playfully rolled her eyes, leaning into Axel as she called towards the redhead. "None of us know where to find you."

Petra turned, a smug grin on her face, as she addressed that small group directly. "Exactly."

A couple minutes of awkward silence passed as Lukas stood beside the Symphony. Axel seemed to be watching him for any suspicious moves, eyes glaring daggers into his skin. Olivia did the same, though her gaze was less intense. She was viewing him with curiosity- what exactly did she want to know? He'd noticed how they subtly dragged Jesse behind them, protecting her. They were her shield to Lukas' lonely, jealous eyes. 

"N-no hard feelings, guys." He began. The gaze of a hawk and a lion stared back, waiting for any slip-ups in his chance to make things right. "If you're cool with Petra, you're cool with us." _With me._ He wondered if he should have said anything cooler. "So... uh, why don't we just.. uh, y'know... make this about how cool our builds are?"

None of them expected the youngest to jump up with a determined grin on her face, matched very closely by the look in her eyes. "We're going to crush you."

Lukas blinked a couple times. "I- uh, I don't know if you know this, but... I, the Ocelots, are pretty good." Dawning realization took over his features, and an amused grin crossed his face. "No- wait, I got it- it's a joke, right?"

"N-no, I'm serious, we're going to _destroy_ you." It was very hard to take Jesse seriously at this point. She had a forming pout on her face after her initial threat didn't work, and Olivia resorted to pinching her nose between her fingers. 

Lukas chuckled a bit, a friendly smile on his face. "Heh, y'know, you're really funny." _Cute._ "That's awesome. Uh, hey, good luck."

Jesse stared back at him with a confused pout on her face. Why hadn't her threat worked? Was she not threatening? Why was she not threatening? The Symphony watched as he walked off, telling Aiden to quit it after he sarcastically acted threatened by the fireworks dispenser.  
She turned to her siblings.

"Am I not threatening?"

"No, not at all." Axel responded honestly.

"Aww."

After another twenty minutes (even for an expert, redstone is still time-consuming work) the redstone was finished.  
Reuben had given them most of the rest of the snacks, and Jesse got to work on the statues. That's right, Jesse was on statue duty. It was a lot more work than she had considered, but she was a girl on a mission. With vigor, she had quickly began on the bottom of the mobs, having already traced a sketch on how she wanted the monsters to be positioned.

Axel and Olivia gladly watched from below, sharing snacks as they engaged in casual conversation.

"Think she can handle it?" Axel said.

"Oh yeah, definitely." Olivia replied. "Have you seen her earlier? She was practically ready to blow."

"Yeah, no, I know." He took a sip of water, washing down the remains of a celery stick. "We had a wrestling match earlier."

Olivia chuckled, laying her head in his lap. Axel moved his free hand to play with some of the locks of her hair. "I saw that," Olivia said. "You two were loud."

At this, the goblincore boy winced. "Sorry, did we interrupt your redstone work?"

"No, not at all! It gave me something to think about more than anything else." 

"Oh, really? Like what?"

"Like the fact that you're a smelly goblin man."

A faux offended gasp was music to Olivia's ears. "Like you're any better, Miss Prissy. Your 'refined' taste can be sensed miles away!"

"Lies and slander, my taste is amazing."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"If you have such good taste, name every food." 

Olivia shrugged. Axel, realizing what he'd just done, gasped. "Okay."

"Wait, no-"

"Asparagus, apples, avacado, alfalfa-"

"I'm sorry stop-"

"Artichoke, applesauce, antelope-"

For the second time that day, Axel shouted in agony.  
The minutes continued piling up, and so did the overall block count of the build. Jesse was working at a decent pace- she'd already done a quarter of the creeper. She made sure the color of the wool was randomized and differently textured, much like the actual skin of a creeper. By the end of it, Jesse's hands were stained green by wiping away excess dye. 

Spectators began lining up at Booth 5, wondering why the green had been placed.  
By the time Jesse was done with the first statue at 1 hour and 45 minutes (including the time it took to place the structure and redstone), people had a good idea of what was happening. At 2 hours and 20 minutes, the entire build was done. White wool had been placed in the statue of the creeper to give off the illusion it was going to explode. The Enderman seemed to have punched the creeper so hard that its mottled head had snapped to the side. All in all, Jesse considered it one of the finest builds she's ever made. She's always been more of a builder than a fighter, and this was definitely no exception. 

"That looks great, Jesse!" Olivia called up at the gardener, who beamed at them from above. Her smile, in Axel's opinion, was comparable to the sun's rays themself.

"Pull the lever!" Axel called, excitement beginning to bubble up in his chest.

And she did.  
An orchestra of fireworks blowing up in the sky, lighting the world up with all the colors of the rainbow, drew the attention of most spectators the _moment_ the sound of a lit firework went off. Olivia and Axel's chests swelled in pride. That was _their_ sister, sitting on top of _their_ build. The scent of slightly burnt flowers and fruits wafted through the air, only accenting Jesse's starstruck expression, painted with the bright colors of Axel's handmade fireworks.

"...and Booth 5 turned on the fireworks, and look at that! Their youngest member, Jesse Oswalt, is sitting on top of the build, and she looks very happy! Understandably so, the build is absolutely STUNNING!" The voice of the judge wafted through the air, and the sound of cheers reached the ears of the Ocelots.  
Lukas had to admit, the build _was_ gorgeous. 

But... Aiden felt offended. How did they make a build even better than the Ocelots? Aiden didn't understand it- it was _his_ team that was supposed to be in the spotlight. They'd spent so much for this year's competition, they couldn't just... they couldn't just NOT win.  
"It- it doesn't make sense- it's! It's just a bunch of dyed wool..!" In his fury, he hadn't realized he hit a block of stone- the only thing separating the rest of the building grounds from a pool of lava. At least, he didn't realize it until one of his shoes caught fire. "Oh god-"  
A sense of guilt washed through him as he realized the Symphony's mechanical pig's costume lit on fire. It only worsened when he heard the youngest yell out in horrified shock.

"Reuben- Reuben's on fire! Reuben's-"  
Jesse had tripped over part of the foundation as she hadn't looked where she was going, and Axel made to catch her. 

Olivia, on the other hand, had already begun to take action. "You two save the build! I'll go get Reuben!"

"On it!" Replied Axel, and he and Jesse quickly worked in tandem to contain the lava.

Aiden, although he wouldn't admit it, despised the look of terror on Jesse's face as she looked towards the forest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here are the links again, just in case you missed them! <3  
> As a side note, I decided to give Jesse the last name Oswalt in honour of male Jesse's voice actor in the game, Patton Oswalt. Remy Ratatouille's voice himself. 
> 
> [Sketch Dump 1!!](https://joysplosion.tumblr.com/post/633921031532412928/heres-some-sketches-for-my-mcsm-au-the-link-to)  
> [Sketch Dump 2!!!](https://joysplosion.tumblr.com/post/633966379553423360/jesse-fell-asleep-on-the-couch-again-bonus-jesse)


	4. Unfair Fairgrounds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Axel and Jesse wait for Olivia to return with Reuben, they experience some of the festivities the convention has to offer. However, Jesse's concerned about them, and it's Axel's job to make sure that she gets a chance at enjoying herself.  
> After all, it's the first competition they won.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did a couple more sketch dumps!!!  
> [Sketch Dump 3!!](https://joysplosion.tumblr.com/post/634145483022024704/so-anyway-heres-a-sketch-dump-of-me-trying-to)  
> [Sketch Dump 4!!!](https://joysplosion.tumblr.com/post/634252222012719104/sketch-dump-4-featuring-honeybearlukas-and)
> 
> Also, I did a few Moodboards!!
> 
> [Moodboards here!!!](https://joysplosion.tumblr.com/post/634177427090931712/so-mcsm-moodboards)
> 
> There!! Now have fun with this new chapter!!

Once the initial panic from the lava had worn off, Axel had been elated.  
This was the first year his friend group had ever won! How could he not be excited? Even as the security cleaned up the rest of the lava, the grin hadn't left his face. Professional painters had asked him and Jesse to sit down- they'll paint them as a form of 'about the artists' for when the build is featured at the convention.

As an addition to the painting, they had somebody interview the two of them. Axel thought it was maybe a bit too excessive, but hey! They were finally getting the recognition they deserved. Especially Jesse and Olivia.  
Ever since they met, he had been jealous of the two of them. Jesse was a great gardener- the vegetables that they grew were always delicious and would, in Axel's eyes, forever beat anything from the market. She had lots of compassion for life in general, no matter if it was a harmless sheep or a bee that had stung her. ("I told you to stay away from them," Axel recalled saying one day to a clearly poisoned Jesse. "But they're so cuute..." the brunette had whined. To this day, he still had no idea how she loved them still.) Olivia and Axel had a nonverbal agreement; they'd both protect and help the little peacemaker in growth.  
Olivia, meanwhile, was very machine-smart. In any redstone error Axel would make, Olivia would correct him way sooner than he'd ever catch. It was no lie she was crazy talented. Not only that, but she was more analytical and had a more logic-oriented mind than the other two combined. Plus, she _loved_ playing mind games, especially puzzles. At first, the behavior confused Axel, until he'd caught himself thinking over any possible scenario that could happen if one of his pranks went wrong. Olivia was also the group's walking dictionary; oftentimes, when the other two were confused, Olivia would quickly whisper a definition. The engineer was basically ready for everything related to mind games, machinery, balanced meals, education, and prep for the future.

Both of them made Axel feel better about being himself.  
Before he'd met them, he felt ashamed for wanting to wreck things. Axel would hold himself back, biting his lip as a nervous habit, until it bled. He learnt how to make clothing, cook, and in the times that he couldn't hold back his instincts anymore, he learnt how to make structures stronger than they've ever been before. His desire to protect, for a long time, had held him back- suppressing the more destructive side of him. And then he met Olivia.

At the time, both of them were wandering with wild abandon. They'd visit several small towns on their own, but felt the need to camp more in the company of the other.  
Olivia taught him how to be feel free. And with that, he utilized his destructive capabilities more- in tandem with his protective instincts. Fireworks, shovels, axes, tools- all of them, Axel remembered, were used to cut down any monster that was in the way of Olivia's safety. With her, he learnt how to think his actions out, and how to separate his morals from his desires. He got better at destruction. The boy took commissions for clearing out a few acres, and they'd be paid to last a week. And, when he'd go to far, he'd always be there to patch things up- stronger than before, better than before. Like a scar. Axel liked scars.

Then the two of them had met Jesse- spawned a year or two before she'd ever met them.  
She was naive (still is), but had clearly had a lot of self-doubt under her sleeve. Despite that, she wouldn't blame anybody for her shortcomings. It seemed she hadn't let herself let go- Axel took it upon himself to teach her that. Truthfully, any swear that came out of her mouth or any angry outburst that she would have (grown in number the more she got used to them) were his fault. But it made Axel happier to know she wasn't perfect, that Jesse was still trying to be the best version of herself even today. In turn, Jesse had taught him how to be kinder, calmer, gentler. She made Axel _want_ to improve, to be a good person. ("You are," Axel could hear her saying. "You are. You're not perfect, and so is nobody else.")  
And so Axel HAD improved. If he found that he could breathe easier each and every day, he wouldn't admit to anybody but himself. Gorgeous meals were produced more frequently for them. Clothes were made to suit them. Monsters were destroyed to protect them, to protect their beautiful hearts and minds.

And Axel was jealous. Why hadn't he learnt to be that kind, or that smart? 

And Axel learned that he had a place.

"How do you feel?" He'd said when he first met Jesse. He remembered her saying she was scared.

Axel asked again three years later. "Safe," she'd replied. And it stuck.

If he couldn't be the heart or the mind, he'd be the bones to protect the two. 

Right now, the bones were weak.  
The heart was fluttering, thumping violently, booming into the ribcage. He hadn't realized this until two-thirds of the way into the interview, when Jesse had started bursting into tears. He found a fatal flaw in his protection: people other than his own. It finally occurred to Axel that Jesse wasn't ready for the spotlight.

He had a job to do.  
Starting with the reporters- their panicked faces when she began crying had slipped them up, and he told them that they needed space. They left, and Axel found himself carrying the girl in a piggy-back ride to town. The delicate sniffles from the brunette absolutely destroyed him. 

The goblincore boy found a place under a nice tree- a nice, cool tree, shadowing them, protecting them from the glaring gaze of the setting sun and the crowd somewhere far behind them. He wordlessly sat the two of them down, began braiding Jesse's hair, and listened as her cries began to die down.  
Waiting was the name of the game here. The heart was delicate- any wrong move and it would burst once more. Finally, when he felt Jesse leaning into him, he spoke.

"Was it the reporters?" She tensed up a bit- he'd got it right. "Yeah?"

"W-well, it was- it was that, and..." he patiently waited. He didn't mind, he'd wait for her, for her and Olivia, til' the end of time. "...and the, and. Lava. Reuben, and lava. And-"

"Shhh." Axel found himself saying. When'd he get so soft? That doesn't matter. Comfort them. "Interview's over now, they won't bother us. And they'll be fine, Olivia and Reuben can take care of themselves."

"I know, but- it doesn't stop me- it doesn't stop me from. From worrying."

"Jesse," he began, "I know. Repeat after me."

"Hm?"

"Olivia and Reuben'll be fine."

"Olivia and Reuben'll... 'll be fine."

"That's right, say it again."  
Even though Jesse's voice wavered in uncertainty, it got stronger the more she said it, with more resolute feeling. Several minutes later, when he felt that she'd said it enough, they stopped talking.

The sound of birds filled the sky, like Jesse's locks did in Axel's fingers as he braided them.  
He was actually the second best of the group with hair. Olivia being the first, with hers tangling about half the time. Jesse the last, for generally not caring about her hair until it was a special occasion. That's why they cut it short- it was getting in Jesse's way, and she couldn't keep up with taking care of it.

Finally, he'd moved her bow to the end of her braid, ensuring that it would stay there 'till it was untangled. Jesse, seemingly satisfied with his work, made to stand up- but Axel took her in another piggy back ride before she had the chance to do so. Even through her whining, Axel wouldn't let her go, until finally she gave up trying to fight against his sibling love.

"I have working legs, Axel," the brunette finally said, and Axel could feel her dainty fingers playing with his scarf.

He scoffed. "I know you do, pipsqueak-"

"Hey-"

"-which is why I'm not letting you walk around Endercon shaking like a leaf." Axel let this information sink in before he continued. "We won. Even though Olivia's off finding Reuben, you gotta let yourself have fun. Why? Because we won!"

He knew he'd gone through to Jesse when he heard a moody grumble.  
A satisfied smile made its way to his face, even if the youngest couldn't see it. Hair bobbed up and down as the burly boy made his way into the town, glaring at anyone who dared stare at them for too long. EDM music blared from the speakers, falling upon the crowd in more of a hushed whisper. Finally, the brunette spoke.

"...can you stay with me?" 

"Always."

Even though he put her down, Jesse would still cling onto Axel's arm. (It wouldn't slow him down, really, he'd just pick her up if she was getting tired.) A nonverbal agreement passed through the two; Jesse would be the one to choose where to go. Even if the brunette wouldn't accept it, she knew the goblincore boy would bug her until they did so.  
And so, if anybody saw a tiny girl leading one of the tallest people they've ever seen towards the duck pool game, they wouldn't say anything. The tall one glared, enough to summon daggers into the skin of anyone who dared try to point out their status as winners of the competition. 

Gill and Maya especially.  
It was honestly refreshing, in their opinion, to see the Symphony. They'd never admit it, though, in fear of Aiden. Jesse was a bright daisy, warm smiles, and happy giggles. Axel was a warm hug, clean clothing, and warm meals. Olivia was a mutual comfort, the smell of lingering cinnamon, and inspiring intelligence. Gill and Maya often compared this to Lukas and Aiden, and with each other. 

Lukas was a rainbow after a storm, the warmth of a fire, a story after a long, long day.  
This seemed to contrast so harshly with Aiden. He emitted a cloudy day, uncomfortable yet thoughtful silence, the fresh sting of a small wound. And, while it was true that these... auras of people stood out on their own, they were only amplified by hanging around each other.  
Jesse and Axel were a warm blanket in bed, the sweetest pumpkin pie, a nice, warm sunset. They were like the fall. Encouraged creativity while also offering a warm, safe environment. 

Why couldn't the Ocelots have that?  
Why couldn't the Ocelots have a warm hug, a sweet pie, or see a brilliant sunset? Was Aiden just that cloudy of an individual? Did he push Lukas too far under a mask? It worried them, Gill and Maya, to see their team falling apart. They'd hoped their inner turmoil would cease once they saw the offended gazes of the Symphony, but they were only rewarded with more jealousy. The fog was suffocating, and the two worried they would drown in it. There was nothing to do at the moment, however, but look at the brother and sister chat away at the carnival game. Come to think of it, just how long had they sat there, catching fake duckies?

The answer was 47 minutes.  
Jesse tried not to pout too much, but it was a given with these kinds of games; they were meant to be difficult. The goblincore boy told her as such, but he knew that wouldn't stop her from trying to win. So, instead of trying to take her elsewhere (which he would've done had they not had the convention pass), he joined in. The game host looked quite miffed, but tried not to say or do anything about it; Axel was pretty intimidating, even if he didn't mean to be. It wasn't until the tenth try that they came out victorious. With a satisfied grin on their faces, they walked away with more pins attached to their clothing.

Now, Jesse _loved_ collecting pins. She always carried around with her a bag filled with pins. When Olivia had asked _why_ she did that, Jesse responded with "what if I need any splashes of color?" Frankly, none of them had an argument for that, so they left it at that. Occasionally, she'd offer to gift one of her pins to her siblings, but they rarely accepted.  
Imagine her joy when she realized she would be given a golden pin for winning. Right now, she wore it proudly on the middle of her bow. Axel, similarly, wore it smack-dab in the middle of his scarf. (It was likely Olivia would wear it on her tunic- Jesse was holding onto it for her.)

"So, what do you want to do next?" Axel asked, hands in his pockets. Jesse looked off to the side and mumbled something, gently tugging on his sleeve. "Hm?"

Realizing she was being too quiet, Jesse spoke up. "I wanna do- I wanna- the, um. The..." she inhaled a bit, and Axel let her steal his arm. "The... bouncy mobiles."

Axel found himself smiling lightly. "You know they're called bumper cars, right, Bud?"

An embarrassed blush made its way onto the softcore girl's face. "I forgot the word for it," she mumbled into his sleeve.

"Sure, sure ya did."

"..shut up, Patches."

"'Kay, but seriously though..."

"???"

"First person to get 7000 points gets to prank Olivia next."

"Oh, you're on!"  
Axel proceeded to win the bet; Jesse didn't have the heart to be so competitive and violent.

The heart had calmed down to a healthy pace. Purified blood flowed through the body, rejuvenating those of which it served. In the back of their mind, Jesse still worried about Olivia, though her stress level had significantly decreased since right after the competition.  
Since then, brother and sister had played several games, many of which they'd lost. They had nothing to lose, what with their pass and all, but they'd smile and grin and laugh anyway. (These small losses were nothing compared to the crushing defeat of losing in front of a crowd, no matter how big or small.) Prizes stacked up, and although they were cheap, they found a way to incorporate them in a way they wouldn't be wasted. Iron and gold nuggets became intertwined with flower crowns, courtesy of Jesse, and the local florist had thanked and traded the girl by giving the two a tray of onigiri. Flint and leather became a simple pendant Axel traded with an adventurer, and received earrings from the stranger's travels in return. Wool became thread, became a scarf for a rather chilly looking woman, and similarly wood became the start of a fire for a camper. 

The satisfied look at each of these people's faces were far more rewarding than the prizes themselves, Jesse concluded. Except for maybe Axel's sweet new earrings, which Jesse'd made sure they were clean.  
Inventory cleaned of the less-than-satisfactory prizes, minus any buttons and pins won, the two found themselves sitting on the bench and munching on the onigiri from earlier. "Hm,"

"Hm?"

"They're filled with sweetberries." Ah, so that's what they were. 

"Makes sense, tastes really good this way."

"I still don't understand how salty and sweet make each other better." Axel chuckled a little, finding the irony in that statement even though he was more skilled in history. 

"Don't worry about it," he'd say after he finished with his snack.

"No, I'm worrying about it."

"Well... stop that."

"No."

A snort. "Okay, Lady Stubborn."

"Hey! For your information, I am a princess."

"Oh, yeah, my mistake, Princess." Axel chuckled as he spoke. 

Jesse pouted. "As your princess, I command you to apologize... and then tell me why salty and sweet taste so good together."

Shrugging, he reached over and stole a rice ball from the girl, ignoring the squeaky 'hey!' that came with the action. "Your Highness, I thoroughly apologize for getting your title wrong."

"And?" Jesse said expectantly, popping another onigiri into her mouth.

"...fine. Salt makes things taste better, and sweetness gives you more energy. Does that answer your question?"

"Yeah, actually." Jesse replied. A few more minutes of silence passed, and the onigiri was finished, leaving the wrapping paper to turn to dust. "You know,"

"Yeah?"

"With Endercon getting more popular, you think people might sell some merchandise?"

"Duh, what convention _wouldn't_ have merchandise-"

"No, no no. I'm talking, like, book merchandise." Jesse quickly cut in, and Axel nodded in understanding.

"We could check," he offered, standing up. "I know Olivia would love to have a _Red Rave Run_ keychain. Think they'll have _Bea the Brave?"_

A wistful look crossed Jesse's face as she rocketed up from the bench. "Maybe! I _would_ like a new _Aristocrat of the Starry Night_ pin."

"You would," Axel said in a chuckle.  
The two proceeded to wander around even more, and eventually, they came across a bookstore stall. Along with books, they were selling merchandise, and the vendor himself looked pretty friendly.

The trade, overall, was quite pleasant.  
Axel and Jesse gladly walked away from the stranger after they'd unintentionally started a long conversation about the ethics of sugar cane farming. Even though it was long, they supposed they now knew how to bond paper together in a way more effective way than they'd been doing for years. (And Axel may or may not have learnt how to make sugar sweeter or bitter at will, improving the quality of both his fireworks and foods.)

And then they'd saw Olivia, walking towards her siblings with a slightly scorched Reuben in hand, followed by Petra.  
The youngest rocketed towards her big sister, a tnt cannon in a bow fight, almost accidentally knocking the steampunk girl off balance.

"RED! ROO!" She'd cried out, unintentionally drawing a bit of attention to the group. 

Axel stood off to the side, a brow raised in confusion. "And... Petra?"

Olivia tried to pry off the brunette, but with little success. Finally, she took the girl in a hug, ignoring the teasing smirk from the redhead.  
"Hey, Starshine. Uh... Petra and I ran into each other while I was looking for Reuben."

"He looks a little scratched up.. is he okay?" The youngest asked, concern accidentally forming to make puppy-dog-eyes.

Olivia shook her head a little, pointing to a bandage on her arm. "Kinda had a run-in with a zombie horde-"

"Honeybear-!"

"-and that's how he got all banged up."

Axel raised a brow. "What were you doing in the woods, Petra?"

"Nothing. Just... drawn by the sound of Olivia's very unnecessarily loud planning." Olivia winced at that. 

"Yeah... I woulda been spider bait had she not found me." A grateful look was brushed off by the redhead, despite the tips of the go-getter's ears turning pink.

"And!!! And hey,, we won!!" Jesse happily said, spinning a little and gesturing grandly towards the statue that was indeed theirs. Petra moved a hand to itch at her cheek, and Olivia gave a very proud smile.

"Huh," Petra began, "weren't kidding when you said you made a pretty sweet build. Didn't even know that was yours."

Olivia nodded. "Turned out pretty great, huh? Axel did the foundation and structure, I did the redstone, and Jesse did the rest."

An impressed whistle was music to the group's ears. "No kidding?"

"No kidding," Axel confirmed. "Jesse sometimes spends all-nighters practicing how to build things like that. She's crazy talented with decoration blocks."

"Aww... stop..." The youngest was reduced to a tomato.

"No," Olivia simply replied. "You're talented, deal with it."

"Well, she's great with organization, decoration, and patterns, but not so much foundation, structure, dimensions, beforehand planning, things like that." Axel explained to Petra. "She's also awful with being picky about her block choices and making things up on the spot. Even if she has loose sketches."

"Okay, seriously, stop this time."

Petra's chuckle made the bickering all the more worthwhile. "Seriously though, the build's great. Never thought that would be you guys'."

"Well, looks like abandoning friends in their time of need paid off yet again," joked Axel, though he was met with a knowing stare from the steampunk girl. 

Olivia hummed. "Now that I'm looking at it, I kinda wish I got that part in the back to look better."

"Mm... there could be more fireworks SOMEwhere..." Axel agreed.

The youngest pouted, her little stomp matching the mechanical whirrs of her piggy. "Hushy-shushy! It's great! You two did great!!!" 

"Oh, don't bring this up about us when we know you're berating yourself too!" Olivia started, giving an exaggerated gesture towards the featured build. "Look at how cool your statue is! How could you do better? Literally how?"

As Jesse shouted back in protest, Petra and Olivia met each other's eyes and nodded, mentally prepping themselves for later.  
And if Petra looked back, a shred of loneliness in her eyes, she'd tell nobody but the demons under her bed. They were waiting for her, after all, and it certainly wouldn't do to corrupt the three.  
...Even if Petra saw the golden pin and keychain Jesse gave her trading partner, her wish of more than just adventure rang in the back of her mind. That wouldn't do, she had a reputation to uphold- 

-and Petra walked away, the corner of her mouth turned into a dissatisfied frown.

In the background, Jesse was giving Olivia a noogie (albeit with difficulty) and Axel was gladly bent over in a laugh.


	5. It's Official, I Hate Unnecessary Danger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Olivia, unfortunately, left herself with the _stupidest_ mistake she could have ever fucking made. The engineer versus one big forest? Unlikely, but she has to find Reuben before his disappearance makes Jesse cry (and before he could burn down the forest, she guesses.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the small chapter this time!

If it's something Olivia hated more than washing out the redstone in her clothes, it was _definitely_ being on her own.

Low self esteem plus the possibility of a forest setting on fire, with the verge of nighttime being the metaphorical 'cherry on top.' God, how she hated that expression (unless if it was Jesse that used it.) To put it simply... the engineer was not cut out for this. If it were Axel, sure! His ridiculous- dare she say it- skill of being loud would help him find Reuben easier, not to mention the toy loves the guy. Plus, if it got dark out, he was the most equipped to defend himself. If it were Jesse, she'd find her piggy in a flash! The two of them were tied at the hip (literally for Reuben), and she couldn't see why he'd ever leave her side. Unless if he were infected with a virus somehow.

Yes, Olivia had a specific set of skills, but she doubted they could be used effectively in this specific situation. Redstone? Yes, she was undeniably proud of her progress in that area, but come on! She couldn't put redstone up faster than- what, 20 minutes at least?- for a single project. Her extensible knowledge would be useful, but unfortunately, she had nobody with her to share the weak spots of monsters and the various uses of string. That was why she had to get Reuben- she was undeniably the least prepared person for this entire thing.  
An exasperated, yet frustrated, sigh escaped her mouth and she punched the trunk of a tree. Its leaves shook mockingly back at her.

Finally, Olivia did what she did best.

Mumbling.

"Okay- if I get lost, I can just use the lights from Endercon to make my way back to town. If we won, then fireworks should be easy to hear and see. If the Ocelots win, then the beacon can reach high above the tree line and that should be fine. Okay. Just... breathe 'Liv, you got this."  
She didn't 'got this.'

Swallowing any remaining ounce of pride she had left, Olivia gazed nervously around the night-but-not-quite area. There were multiple clearings- that could be bad, she might get lost, what if the costume set fire to everything else...  
Right, Reuben.

"Uh- Roo?" Olivia tried, cupping her hands 'round her mouth. "Give me a whirr if you can hear me!"  
No answer. A look of dissatisfaction crossed her face before she moved onwards.

Unusually dark patches on the ground caught her eye.

_Dirt, maybe?_

Walking toward it proved it wasn't dirt, but unusually burnt tracks on the ground. 

"...Stump tracks. Weird." But they fit Reuben's paw size, so Olivia supposed it was the only lead she got.  
Olivia should have taken Axel's offer up on giving him boots. God, why didn't she let him make the boots? 

Shaking her head, she tried calling out again. "Reuben? Roo, come here, boy!"  
Round the corner were more tracks, more proof- ah, that proof was further cemented by the tree catching fire.

Oh fuck, the tree was on fire-!  
The engineer made a beeline towards the flames, analyzing the situation, calculating, processing-

"Fire shouldn't spread," Olivia said to herself, in a bit of a daze from all the adrenaline. "...that's good."  
The flames swallowed up the block connecting the trunk to the forest floor. Now it definitely shouldn't spread. "...nice proof that Roo was here, though."

Satisfied with her brief analysis, she began walking forward again. Nervous hands tugged at the bottom of the tunic, played with her earrings, fidgeted with her beanie. Caught by the sight of pink, she walked forward- _pink pink Reuben Roo are you there buddy Jesse's sad._ Eyes like a hawk gazed over the group of pink creatures. None of them had a redstone wire on its head. Maybe he was nearby?

"Reuben? You in there?"  
Looking behind trees and mounds of dirt were useless, grass couldn't do much to hide a pig anyways, but there were still tracks that proved he'd run by. "Stupid pigs," she'd grunt angrily at the mindless creatures, weaving her way through the group and continuing on her path to save _Jesse's feelings- the forest._ "Reuben? No, not you gu- pigs! All pigs but Reuben shut _UP!"_

_Reuben oh god Reuben, Jesse's going to be so sad- Jesse loves you too much- fuck, what if something else caught fire-_

Keep moving forward, keep moving forward. A hand played with the hem of her tunic. Tugging, tugging, pulling at the fabric- gotta do something with her hands. An image of Jesse full-out sobbing had her increase her pace tenfold. If not that, then the panicked look on Axel's face that she'd had the unfortunate chance of memorizing.  
As she neared a shrubbery bundle, she gasped- a chicken had flown out of it- before realizing with bated breath she punted it back into the wildlife. Olivia just punted a chicken. That was a funny image, huh? Axel would laugh at her, definitely, god it's hilarious to think about. A soccer game, but with a goddamn actual chicken. What a sight. Olivia could imagine it now- Axel, leaning back and barking a laugh, waving a casual hand at her and saying 'take that, you putrid poultry.' Maybe he wouldn't use those big of words, but still! Hilarious.

Then- she had to jump, the land was descending. It was getting darker and darker, and no amount of fiddling with her tunic would fix that. A frustrated slash scared tone made its way into her voice as she called out to her rather calculated companion. 

"Reuben, it's getting scary out here! We have to go home! To Jesse and Axel!"  
She walked forth, and something unpleasant caught her nose- fuck, smoke- wait, smoke? The smoke drawn her eyes toward the source and-

_Oh god oh god Jesse's going to be so mad at me I failed her I failed to protect her piggy-_

"Reuben! Roo, oh no- oh no no no, you in there?"  
Axel's ruined costume, smoking desperately, oh god the wings were covering up the body what if the doll faded to dust- but a lifted wing shown it not to be true. A briefly relieved sigh made its way into Olivia's voice, and she stood up. Hesitation leaked into her expression- _Olivia, why'd you do that? Why'd you have to go and ruin the costume?_ \- she used her frustration and stomped out the fire. Fire was a friend- albeit a very violent friend- and she knew how to deal with it. Electrical fires? Not a problem, daily occurrence in the life of an engineer. Grease fires, oil fires? Fine, they'd had a lot of those thanks to their initial rather shoddy use of torches.  
Combustible metal was a given sometimes, she had her fair share of burns with those. Hell, burns came with the profession of griefers and engineers. That's one thing they had in common, Olivia had realized so long ago. Axel and Olivia were great with burn wounds! 

Olivia hadn't realized she'd been muttering until she heard her voice echoing in a cave.  
Oh god, hisses, there were spiders. But- whirrs, too? Reuben-

"Reuben! Are you in here- GAH!"  
The sight of eight eyes staring at her from a lower layer in the cave made her want to faint right there and then. She's never fainted, by the way- nor has she gotten very lightheaded, ever. The spider walked off reluctantly, after realizing Olivia meant no harm. It didn't hurt to admit that she'd booked the hell out of that enclosed space.

Whirrs, more and more, until she saw, sitting right beside a shrubbery bush, Reuben- shaking and shuddering from the unprecedented heat change.

"There you are, asshole, making me worry about you-" the doll huffed, and Olivia continued. "-god, you're gonna be in such big trouble once we're out of here. Come on. Hope you're ready for some walking- possibly running- gotta head into town so we don't-"

_Groan._

_...Fuck._

Zombies, one by one, were pouring out of the cave she'd just escaped. Olivia can't go that way now- it's possibly spawning monsters as they spoke- they would tear Roo and Olivia into chunks big and chunks small and-

"Run!"  
The two made a beeline out of it. Luckily, zombies weren't that fast- she was glad baby zombies were rare, she really didn't want to encounter a hundred of those. Then, a clearing- they could be able to see enemies from afar, good, it's good to be spatially aware. The doll stopped momentarily so his human companion could catch a breath, but that didn't last for long.

"Whew- I think we're goOD DAMMIT-"  
A creeper had snuck up on them in the clearing and they _have to get out of the way explosions hurt, too much damage, Roo might poof-_  
She'd launched herself over a couple dirt blocks to save for lost time, but she didn't have time to register that. Her feet were slapping against the dirt floor, dodging the skeleton's arrows- it was too high up she couldn't reach it and _missed opportunity for bonemeal fuck_ and suddenly she was in another clearing and.

Zombies, blocking any exit. Weapons? No, anything else that could be used as one?  
Redstone torch. She struck it against a tree- sure, it wasn't that much of a makeshift weapon, but fire was pretty useful, she was good with fire- and she manouvered at one of the zombies. Reuben squealed, she wasn't thinking, she dodged a lazy punch- blue clothes lit up in red flames. Success! Redstone fires were always much more heated than normal fires and _oh god did I just make a pun god dammit you two influencing me with your presence-_

But that was one zombie out of the four she could see. Olivia dived for the left one- this time, she'd set its pant leg on fire- and an idea came to her head. 

_Make them fight each other._

Okay, good plan, no time to argue- mechanical whirring protested as she sandwiched herself between two of the opponents, let them get close enough. Small breaths were stolen in the small time frame, but it helped- out of the corner of her eye she spotted the fired up zombies turning into dust. Three left.  
Olivia dodged an attempted attack from the right- it nailed the other zombie in the face- and suddenly she was out and the zombies were fighting each other like two preschool kids. This would only work to poof one of them but it would work. Aimed for another zombie, it lit on fire-

-oh fuck the torch just broke.  
She hurriedly went and backed herself up against the wall. Fuck. Okay. Loud whirring. A spider jumped down from a tree nearby, one of the zombies finished burning and one of them was victorious in the small battle. Mumble.

"I can't battle a spider, not like this- I don't have a weapon and Reuben doesn't have any fighting experience.. if Reuben ran and made it to Endercon that would be cool but then he'd run out of battery and somebody would steal him..." Olivia's eyes snapped up and she stared Reuben in the button eye.  
"There's too many of them- no matter what, _stay behind me._ I'm here."

Because Reuben was the group's little piggy, their soft blanket, he kept them warm while they were sad. He was the light in Jesse's darkest time in life. Stayed a member of the family, no matter how much Olivia's embarrassment would beg otherwise. It was about time she got over herself, it was worrying Axel. Jesse didn't notice, she'd been too busy snuggling her- their- piggy. A beacon in the dark, crafted from truly wonderful and miraculous and frankly _impossible_ collaboration between Olivia and Axel. And Jesse loved Reuben, and Jesse loved them.  
Admittedly, Jesse was the weakest, and that might be because they spoiled her. She didn't deserve hurt, though. Look me in the eyes and tell me that that emerald-eyed ray of sunshine deserved to die. Olivia and Axel loved her and they'd got stronger just for her because she was their sister, their darling sunshine, and nobody could take their darling sunshine away. 

Axel was 'Liv's younger brother. He was fucking annoying from time to time and loved getting on everyone's nerves. She'd be dammed if she didn't somehow find a way to utilize Axel's clever trademarked pranks against some bullies and god _damn_ did that feel good. And Axel was unique, he was strange, he loved to make people laugh. His favorite food was mushroom stew, he was the best god damn cook around, and why couldn't anybody see that the giant was gentle? Axel was so damn gentle, he was the best at deescalating situations just as much as he was starting them, and he was sweet.  
Out of affection, he'd give plenty hugs and goodnight kisses, and Olivia and Jesse loved those. ("Don't stop," Jesse'd begged one day, "I wanna know how my bedtime story ends.") Axel was undoubtedly creative- perhaps even moreso than Olivia or Magnus himself! 

...oh. It was true that, before somebody died, their life flashes before their eyes. A spider dropped down, _lunged_ at Olivia's face- and just after she'd tore one of another had to take its place. Pinsirs lightly scraped her face- just enough to draw blood, nothing too serious, should get disenfected-  
The spider was suddenly dragged off of the engineer, and a mechanical whirr and _several angry pickaxe hits to the thorax- the spider already popped damn-_

"Come on, let's get out of the open."

Olivia only just managed to register that she grabbed the string from that spider.


	6. So... Wanna Come With?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Petra fixes up Olivia, and they have a nice talk while they're at it.

Olivia blinked.

There was something in her hands- wood, she realized- a ladder. Blinking once more, she stared down at her watch. 6:13- almost two hours after the competition ended. Huh. Absently, she wondered if they- the Symphony- won. But- wait, wasn't she in a clearing with Reuben? They were being attacked by monsters and- wait, monsters can't reach her now, they can't climb ladders and certainly can't climb fences.  
Right, somebody saved her. She replayed the moment in her mind _absently flinched at the spider's pincers_ and- huh, Petra! 

Talk about a deus ex machina.  
Olivia stepped down the ladder, mind going a mile a minute, and as she looked over her shoulder she saw Petra and Reuben walking into a lit cave. Oh, how she hated caves, but this should be fine- this one was lit, and it was likely Petra's cave. She hopped down the stone, quickened her pace to be able to catch up to the redhead.

The engineer shivered as the cave echoed steps back at her, taunting her. 

"I wanna show you something," Petra said, looking at Olivia from the edge of her eyesight.

"Not that this isn't a really cool, dimly-lit tunnel, but... how far away is this thing you wanna show me?"

The side of Petra's mouth turned up in a smile, and the redhead continued walking- hands tucked in pockets, posture slouched.   
"Careful, 'Liv. You don't want to get a reputation as a wimp."

"You and I both know I already have that reputation."

Olivia playfully rolled her eyes as Petra barked a short laugh. Mechanical whirrs echoed throughout the cave as Reuben stepped, stepped, stepped. ("It's okay, Honeybear," she can hear Jesse saying, "I'm right here! Share your fear with me, yeah?") A scarred hand reached up to grab her beanie, and she played with it. Something for her hands to do. It's.. a distraction. Albeit a very ineffective distraction, but still. The mechanical whirrs... the light... she was safe. Olivia didn't feel safe, though, and that was admittedly quite an unsatisfactory thing to say.

Petra knew how nervous Olivia could be. Though, she guessed it was almost a good thing Olivia could get as nervous as she is smart. Otherwise, she wouldn't have heard her... _absurdly fast_ mumbling. From what she could hear, Olivia had been considering the possibilities of what would happen if Reuben stayed or ran. Petra had to admit, that was some... _very_ impressive thinking. The fight, flight, and freeze response is quite amazing, and even then it works differently for people. Petra, herself, leans toward the fight response, and Olivia seems to be between fight and flight.  
...Though she _did_ seem to run on autopilot between the time Petra saved her and when they got to the cave. Maybe she was in shock. Petra didn't blame her.

The use of redstone torches to burn her enemies in flames was a really.. innovative idea. Not that Petra would ever admit it out loud. Still, Olivia used what she had and managed to survive long enough for Petra to get to her. The redhead refused to think about what would happen to her if she'd been even a second too late.  
Still... she looked pretty banged up by those couple of spiders. 

Looking over her shoulder, she saw Olivia gripping Reuben tightly in her arms whilst petting it- him- behind the ears. (That looked pretty comfy, maybe she should ask for one of those complicated plush toys too. Wait, that'd mess up her reputation.) Perceptive brown eyes lingered over the injuries. Scrapes, scratches, nothing too deep. Still, they'd better get them disinfected before Olivia comes down with something.  
Coming to a corner of the cave, Petra called out to her. 

"Come on, 'Liv. Let's get you patched up."  
Olivia looked up with an almost startled look on her face before nodding and following after her. She was... such a lost puppy without her two best friends.

Hiding a smile under her fist, Petra grabbed Olivia's arm and pushed her onto a table. It was a side room in her little cave home. Nobody was foolish enough to walk into a cave labelled 'Petra's Territory- Keep Out.' Probably why it was so effective in the first place.  
Petra heard Reuben's warped oinks before, but it still kinda creeped her out. Not that she'd ever admit it, but... an AI, that somehow learned as it went? Kinda freaky. Of course, Axel and Jesse'd be up in her business if they ever caught her saying that, but she'd rather not say it in front of the damned doll. It could probably learn to slit her neck in her sleep. 

Anyway, freckled hands fiddled around a chest for a bit before emerging with a green substance in a container and a couple bandages. As the resident go-getter, it was _always_ necessary to know first aid. It helped her out of far more situations than she'd like to admit, but she only knew the basics of how to treat each wound. Petra knew CPR and the Heimlich maneuver as well, but that was about it.  
From what Petra could tell, Olivia and Axel were well-versed in the burn and arrow wound department, even more so than she was. She'd have to ask for pointers form them- in exchange for something else, of course. Equivalent exchange and all that. Jesse, though, must know about how to handle broken bones. After Petra had seen Axel with a sling around his arm and asked where he'd learned that, he said something along the lines of 'I didn't, Jesse did.' 

"Okay, this might sting a bit, but don't go crying like a baby on me."  
Petra saw Olivia rolling her eyes again. She was glad the engineer could tell when she was joking. 

"Aight, but don't complain if I 'accidentally' kick you in the shin."

Man, Petra loved how Olivia understood her. Same dark humor club. Petra uncapped the container and gathered a bit of the green paste on her fingers before spreading them on the wounds. The redhead watched as the engineer furrowed her eyebrows in thought, before brown met brown.

Olivia swore she smelled this before. Was it alfalfa or oregano? One of them had external healing properties, didn't they? Mixed with... was that nether wart? Now Olivia _had_ to know. Not just for her sake, but for Jesse.  
"Alfalfa or oregano? With nether wart, right?"

"Both, actually." Petra replied, and Olivia winced when she accidentally pressed too hard into a wound. "Not as effective as a healing potion, but it definitely works pretty quick for wounds like these. The alfalfa and oregano have antibiotic properties, and the nether wart has cell regeneration properties."

"Wow," Olivia said as a freckled hand placed a bandage over her nose. "Honeybear'd love to know that..."

"Honeybear? Isn't that Jesse's nickname for you guys?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. she calls us Honeybear, we call her Honeybear. It's a little strange, but it works." Petra hummed in understanding, and continued patching up the engineer. "Think you can teach Jesse how to make that stuff?"

"Depends, what do you think she can give me in return?"

"Oh, right, equivalent exchange or whatever. Um, hmm..." Olivia paused for a moment. "Oh! She could teach you how to fix up dying plants with bonemeal."

"Huh, no kidding?"

"No kidding! She's been workshopping it for a couple weeks now. I think she finally got the hang of it, Jesse got really excited when I asked her about it today."  
Petra let out a low whistle as she finished bandaging up the engineer. The winding up of Reuben filled up the silence for a couple more seconds.

"Sounds pretty useful," the redhead said, brushing cleaning off her hands.

"Oh, it is." Olivia agreed.

"Well, now that we got all that out of the way..." Petra stood up and gave a strict stare at the eldest of the siblings. "What were you doing out in the dark? Alone with Reuben? Didn't you have a weapon?"

"Ah- uh, well," Olivia began, twisting her watch around. "Reuben's costume caught fire after a lava spill." Petra raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I know, why have lava at a building competition? That's so weird."

"And you didn't make sure you had a weapon first? In that bigass forest? Where everything could have caught on fire?"

"Ah, well, when you put it like that..."

Petra rolled her eyes and gestured for Olivia to follow. The engineer, already embarrassed enough for the week, followed. _I can't believe you made a fool out of yourself in front of Petra._ The voice in her head taunted, _would she even like to hang out with you anymore?_ Man, the voice in her head was quite the bitch. Although it didn't matter, since she believed it anyway.  
Hands fiddled and played with the hem of the tunic some more.   
Man, was this awkward. The steps echoed off the walls as the two walked in almost-silence (Reuben made any kind of silence difficult, but the siblings got used to it as a type of white noise.)

"So," Petra began, drawing the engineer's attention. "Have you ever seen..." she reached into her pockets, a small sly look in her eye. "...A Wither skull?"  
And true to her word, there was an honest-to-god Wither skull right in her hands. Olivia gaped, and she absently heard Reuben overheating once more. "Fresh from the Nether," Petra added. "You're the first person I've showed it to."

"Oh my god-" Olivia began, and the corner of the redhead's mouth turned up in a sly grin. "-you went to the Nether? That's super dangerous- and not to mention the spawn rates of Wither skulls as a drop are crazy insane as of themselves! How did you survive that?" The engineer began walking around in a circle, rattling off things as her mind went. Petra knew better than to interrupt her. "Wither skeletons are about TEN TIMES as powerful as normal skeletons- and they use _swords!_ Honest-to-Notch _SWORDS,_ Petra! How did you do it? Did you set up a trap? Did you match them in strength?"  
Olivia absently grabbed Reuben off the floor and messed with his control power to stop him from overheating some more, although Petra doubted she realized what she was doing. "Did you get a new sword out of it? Do they even drop swords sometimes? Oh man, I should really research more about-"

"'Liv, it's fine."

"No, it's NOT fine, Petra, you could've gotten hurt- how are you even- how are you even NOT hurt??"

"Don't worry so much, I can handle myself." Petra chuckled, putting the skull back in her inventory. "You'd be surprised how much Striders will be willing to go if you have a warped fungus on a stick."

"I- I don't believe you, you're so impossible-" Olivia said. "-stupid screws, hold still Roo, and oh my god you're something else."

Petra chuckled and waved for Olivia to continue on. "There's this guy I'm meeting up with at the convention-- he's gonna trade me a diamond for it." She returned to her casual walk pose. "Being resident go-getter pays off every once in a while."

"It's one diamond, Petra, you should be asking for more."

"I know, right?"

"And- so many people would kill for what kinda trades you get, you know that? Also, what's this guy's deal?"

Petra shook her head. "I mean, I guess, but I usually trade off my earnings for better things. People get.. really unnecessarily happy if you give them a set of leather armor. Also, he's kind of strange, I guess, but hey-- everybody's got their thing."

"You never thought to ask him, 'hey, what's with your whole.. totally normal... not at all weird skull thing?'" 

"As long as that guy is willing to pay. I earned that diamond."

"This is super sketchy, Petra. God." There was a pause. "Would you rather... fight that Wither skeleton or that creepy guy?"

"What's the catch, 'Liv?"

"Nothing but a leather helmet and a hoe. Also, how'd you know that there was a catch? Also also, how did you even kill that skeleton?"

"The skeleton, definitely. It's strong, yeah, but it would be a good challenge. That creepy guy? He's human, I could take him down easily, but after this trade I'd rather not be near him even with a fifty-foot personal space radius." There was a pause. "Also, when there's a catch with that question, you usually pause after 'would you rather.' It's your tell."

"Oh."

"Yeah. And, you'd be surprised with just how well sand and gravel traps work."

"Did you have to trade somebody for that-"

"Yeah. Yeah, I did."

"...wow." Olivia paused, setting down Reuben. The plush whirred in its newly recovered state. 

"Wow, what?" Petra asked, stopping her walk in order to meet Olivia's eyes.

"In a single day, you traded somebody for a sand-and-gravel trap, went to the Nether, managed to kill a Wither skeleton, somehow had enough time to meet with us at the building competition, _and_ saved me and Reuben. I mean, Axel and Jesse and I DID build a really cool statue, but still." Olivia averted her gaze, her face heating up a bit. "It's, uh, quite eventful being you, huh?"

Petra raised an eyebrow and gave a casual grin. "You know, you could come with me." At Olivia's blink, she continued walking forward, and the engineer had to jog a bit to keep up. "If you're scared, I totally get it, but I wouldn't mind a little backup."

"You- you want _me?_ To come- to come with _you??_ Why not Axel, or Jesse?" 

"Axel no doubt has skill in defeating monsters, but he's a bit too hotheaded and protective. Jesse? They're childish and not very good in combat. It'd be like babysitting them. As for you?" Petra gave a subtle smile. "You're smart and great with redstone. You could really help me out with some of my more trickier trades. Consider this my charitable act for the day."

"I'll consider it however you want me to consider it, so long as I get to come!" As they passed a corner, an orange-and-peach outlier caught her eye. "You just keep a crafting table down here?"

"Comes in handy." Petra rolled her shoulders, a couple of satisfying pops echoing into the cave. "So, since you didn't have a weapon in the first place..."

"...You're giving me a new one?"

"Better. You can make your own." Olivia gaped at her for a minute, shaking off the shock before hurrying to the station. Petra kept down a chuckle. "One stick plus two stones equals a stone sword."

"Oh my Notch, for free?"

"For free. Just grab what you need."

"..wow. Th-thank you."  
Petra grinned and watched the engineer, leaning against the stone walls of the cave. "All- all of this is yours, right?"

The redhead rolled her eyes. "No, we're just stealing from whoever was dumb enough to leave this here. 'Course it's mine!"

Olivia chuckled, inserting two stones and a stick into her inventory. "Yeah, just- just making sure."  
Breathlessly, the engineer placed the stick on the table. Her first sword. Her first _effective_ sword. Sure, she knew how to combat monsters fairly well thanks to Axel, but also thanks to Axel, she didn't really know how to combat them on her own. One stone. Wow, Jesse is going to be so jealous of her. Doesn't matter, Olivia could join Axel in defending her and Reuben now. Two stone. 

Now, Olivia didn't know much about intent, but she was sure that it was working to mend together her sword.   
Jesse would love to take a look at it later. Mesmerized, Olivia watched as the stone elongated, melded with itself, wrapped around the stick to form a soft leather guard. Soon, the sword was finished, laying innocently on the table. It was... thin, thinner than she'd expected it to be. But it was also almost regal in the sense of all the barely-visible patterns in the stone. 

Olivia picked it up, and... and it felt _right._ She wished she could thank whoever made the intent system possible.

"See? Isn't it better when you make it yourself?" Petra teased from behind her.

Olivia nodded. "...infinitely."

Still trailing her finger around the swirly patterns of the sword, she walked out of the cave with Petra. They were now on a bridge, and looking towards the convention-

"Wow, we won," Olivia said in surprise, sheathing her sword. "That's- that's incredible! We finally won!" A disbelieving laugh sounded out from the engineer, who brought her hand under her beanie. Reuben's mechanical whirring increased. "Oh my Notch, I can't believe it, we actually, physically won! God, Jesse was right, both of them were the right choice!"

"Good for you, 'Liv," Petra grinned, turning to the engineer. 

Olivia sighed happily, looking down at Reuben. "About time we beat Lukas and his gang of jerks." _What kinda name is the Ocelots, anyway?_

"You know, Lukas can be kind of arrogant," Petra began, drawing Olivia's attention back to her. "But he has come through for me in tricky situations. You might want to get to know him. Just in case."

At Olivia's blinking, Petra knew that she was considering it. "...would his friends tease Jesse?"  
Oh. That's what she was worried about. Petra should have expected that.

"They might, but I don't think he'd participate in it himself." Olivia blinked, then nodded, beginning to follow the redhead across the bridge. "I get that you're worried about Axel and Jesse, but I think they can handle themselves just fine. Well, Axel, really. Jesse needs a bit of work."

"That.. may be my fault." Petra paused, watching Olivia's furrowed eyebrows. Was she really blaming herself for that? Man, she should really change the subject.

"So, remember what Endercon was like before it was cool?"

"Remember what _we_ were like before _we_ were cool?"

"Heh. Some of us will never be cool." 

"Oh, _ha, ha. Very_ funny."  
Their light banter was interrupted by hissing, and at the end of the bridge-

"Oh god, creepers." Olivia said, and turned around- "Monsters in the cave, too!"

"We just came from there, how are there monsters?"

"I don't know!" 

"This.. doesn't look good. Well, there's only one way off this bridge." Olivia looked down at the water. Then back up.. there was at least one creeper at each side. Petra continued. "Whatever we do, we do together, got it?"

"Got it! Get ready to get waterlogged!"   
Now, Reuben _hated_ being brought into somebody's inventory, unless it was for good reason. This was for GREAT reason. Olivia pocketed him, with minimal squealing on his part. The engineer bent her legs, braced herself, and _jumped._

Explosions could be heard from behind her, but Olivia ignored them in favor of righting her center of balance.

Petra met her eyes, but the redhead's widened at something behind her. Being face-to-face with a creeper was probably the worst surprise she's gotten all day, but thankfully she punched it away. On time, hopefully. And- yeah, yeah she did, but those poor chickens.   
Feathers flew up into the two girls' faces, only to be met with a flock of bats. From the corner of her eye, Olivia saw Petra punching a bat away from her face. 

_Ouch, wouldn't want to be that bat._

She sucked in a breath, and- feetfirst, thankfully- she landed into the water.

She was still wringing water out of her beanie once they got to Endercon. Thankfully, they hadn't run into any more monsters, and Olivia felt it safe enough for the plush to come back out of her inventory. With grumpy, artificial oinks, Reuben followed the two humans.  
Petra, turning to Olivia, began planning out the game-plan.

"The trade's at 9." It was 7:24. "When we're making the deal, I need you to let me do the talking, okay? I just don't want anything to screw this up."

Olivia couldn't blame her, it was a diamond. They were pretty rare, she'd guessed. "Yeah, I'll let you handle it. You said the guy was strange, I don't wanna fuck with that noise."

"If you really want to be useful, try looking intimidating." Olivia gave her a blank stare. "..okay, yeah, I see your point."

The sound of a little sister interrupted the conversation. "RED! ROO!"  
The hug, although sudden, was definitely a welcome and warm change from the engineer's own cold body. A smile made its way onto the engineer's face.

Jesse and Axel were home. She was home again.


	7. Why's It Always the Creepy Old Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Olivia knew that this Ivor character was sketchy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter!! In the meanwhile, I pumped out another sketch dump!
> 
> [Sketch Dump 5!!! Enjoy!!!](https://joysplosion.tumblr.com/post/634739912506228736/sketch-dump-5)
> 
> Also, thank you to Petra on the MCSM unofficial discord server for the redstone glowy idea!!!

"Honeybear?"

The question, though plain and simple, had held concern that was impossible to be articulated. Honey-like weight settled around the atmosphere as the speaker gazed warily at the engineer. How a young, frail child- filled with such sunny-like optimism and love- could articulate such a question escaped the brilliant mind of Olivia. The concern held weight of someone who should be far older than a teenager. Frankly? It scared Olivia.  
The youngest child should never have to deal with the burden of their siblings, hence Olivia answered in kind.

"Yeah, Jesse?"

"You seem a little concerned. Is everything okay?"

The engineer had to take a moment to think over her answer. Jesse was smart, despite her childish tendencies. They, in fact, could tell a truth from a lie if they were looking hard enough. If Olivia wasn't careful, she'd have to explain why exactly she was going off with Petra in approximately.... an hour and thirty minutes.  
So, instead, she'd have to craft an intuitive lie. One that made sense from previous knowledge, as well as something that wouldn't be too out of character.

"...yeah. I just, I can't believe we actually won this year." A lie that wasn't a lie. Perfect. "It just- it feels so relieving after a nine-year consecutive loss streak!"

The engineer turned her head to look at the statue once more. There it was. _Their_ statue, standing tall for everyone to see. Younger players were looking up at it in awe as the elders watched on with amusement. Jesse, to Olivia's side, gave a huge grin as Reuben oinked in the gardener's arms.  
The eldest blinked as Jesse suddenly perked up.

"Oh!! Right!!! We got these for you, Honeybear!" With a grin, the youngest pulled out a golden pin and... was that a _Red Rave Run_ keychain?

"Oh wow," Olivia gaped. Her scarred hands gently accepted the gifts from the gardener, and she looked down at the small objects in awe.

"Go on!! Put them on!!" Urged Jesse, the mechanical whirrs of Reuben somehow accentuating her plea. 

Frankly, Olivia was starstruck. Proof of her victory _and_ merchandise of her favorite mystery novel, all in one place? There was no way in the Nether that the engineer would turn this down. With a smile, she put the golden button on her beanie, and the keychain was left hanging from her belt.  
Awe continued to pour from the eldest, the gravity of the situation finally coming to her.

They _won._ They got to _meet, in PERSON, Gabriel the Warrior!_ The Serene Cyan Swordsman himself! Gracious indeed, Olivia idly thought as she gazed over at Keynote Hall. A breathless chuckle emanated from the engineer, and she looked towards the gardener, who was smiling happily at her.  
Yeah. They won. They have... _so_ many opportunities now. 

"Feeling better now?" The youngest asked, an almost cheeky grin on her face. Olivia breathlessly nodded.

-

Jesse hated being left alone.  
It wasn't Olivia's fault that she had to do... whatever it was with Petra, but it sure would be nice to have a little backup.

A little after the engineer had left, the gardener was left to wander around the convention on her own. Reuben was by her side, soaking up the sights and giving Jesse any support needed to ease her anxiety. Knowing that the pink plushie would always be by her side was comforting. The windup toy had been with her in some of her darker moments, when she was tired and scared. Nightmares ceased to plague her dreams when Reuben was near, for the pig chased away any foul formations of the mind with thoughts of love and cheer.  
But... now, Reuben was trapped in the captivity of a man who did not care for the security the plush had brought the girl. Grease, stained with the awful scent of _money money money_ intent, plagued the youngest's nose. 

And the gardener _hated_ it.

"Porkchops! Get your porkchops here! Fresh off the bone!"  
Reuben, sitting _right there,_ with his power source turned off and on the counter of one very foul-scented porkchop vendor.

"Excuse me? That's mine," the small gardener had said, trying not to wither under the foul gaze and _more more more_ intent. 

"What's the big idea? I'm trying to run a business here," the man had said.  
With a large hand, he shoved Jesse's beloved plush out of her reach, and the girl tried not to cringe. 

"That's my plush. You _kidnapped_ my plush."

"Well, I dunno what you're talking about, Chief." The last word was spit with arrogance, so much so that Jesse could _imagine_ the intent laced within his words. The gardener bit back a scowl as he glowered at her. "I found this thing wandering around in the streets."

_That's a lie, and you know it. Reuben isn't a thing._

"It may not be a real pig... but I'll be damned if this doesn't get me more money."

"He's my friend. Give him back."

"To me, 'he' is a mascot." He leaned down at her level, and raised a brow at her. "Look kid, get lost before I make you."

Fed up with this shit, the small child had pulled out her shears. Jesse was good with shears. Good enough that she'd dismantle one or two mobs with them before. Pointing the blade between the man's eyes, she spoke in an even and calm voice. Threats are worlds more terrifying if a seemingly innocent kid is the one to deliver them.  
The butcher reeled back a bit at the sight of the shears, looking down at the girl as if daring her to make a move. Instead, she spoke (and if her bow spun quite a bit, he didn't make any comment.)

"Give. Me back. My pig."

Jesse walked away two minutes later with a smile on her face and Reuben back in her arms. The gardener was glad that she didn't have to resort to violence, though the softcore girl was certain it did come to the vendor's surprise that she was willing to resort to violence if it became necessary.

-

Olivia hated leaving Jesse in the dark.  
Not only was she so.. so childlike, but she was smart. Jesse could figure out when something was wrong, and could pry out the why if it were necessary. That's why she had to be careful about wording. One wrong move, and Jesse would pry out the details faster than the engineer could blink.

If the roles were reversed, then the engineer wouldn't pry. In fact, Jesse would probably be so bad at it that she'd draw curiosity from the older one. 'Subtle- as a punch to the face,' Olivia could see herself saying. In actuality, it was much more different than that.  
Building truths on top of lies- or was it the opposite? Yes, it was the opposite. A valuable skill that Olivia had learnt to make over the years, so as to not draw concern from Jesse or Axel if the situation called for it. 

She had to make up a vague enough lie that it was the truth.

"Hey, Jesse?" 

"Hm?"

"Petra wants me to come with her for something." Not a lie. Jesse raised an eyebrow, she'd have to elaborate-but-not. Enough so that the softcore girl wouldn't be suspicious, but enough so that it wouldn't be a lie. "Shouldn't take too long, I'll be back before you know it."  
A little nod, and Olivia knew she was successful.

"Stay safe, Honeybear!" Jesse said, walking off with Reuben in tow.

"I will!" She'd call back. 

It was honestly easier than Olivia had expected it to be, but nerve-grating nonetheless.  
Honestly, she expected the youngest to pry some more. Oh well, no more time to dwell on that- she _had_ to get to Petra. Honestly, she was surprised that Petra even wanted her to come with. Considering the options, though, Olivia supposed it made sense. 

Axel, with his big stature, would be useful in trades- that is, if he wasn't going to be the one speaking.  
He had attitude. An attitude that would be harmful if he jumped into a conversation too quickly. Even though the goblincore boy meant well, he was likely to scare off any potential trade partners. Not only that, but he may be a little too protective of those he's close to. Just last year, he'd accidentally scared off somebody trying to congratulate his team of doing a good job. Even though Axel apologized, the poor lad was slightly shaking the entire time.

Jesse, meanwhile... she'd likely tarnish Petra's reputation just by being in close range.  
For one, she was too small. Jesse would unintentionally give traders the wrong impression. Not only that, but she was _awful_ at close range combat- any enemies tended to clobber her before she'd poof them. Petra couldn't look for her trade items _and_ babysit Jesse at the same time, as rude as that sounds. Even though the gardener would like to claim that she defeated a couple of monster with shears, that was only because Olivia and Axel had weakened them beforehand. Olivia didn't mean to rain on the youngest's parade, but whatever was necessary to protect Jesse, Olivia would do it. 

God knows Petra would hate to look after Jesse so much.  
Speaking of which, the redhead walked out from between a couple booths, walking in her signature style next to the engineer. A small grin lifted the sides of her freckled face.

"You ready?"

"I- I guess," Olivia said, tugging at her tunic. She'd pocketed her new keychain and pin- it would likely give the trader the wrong impression. "I haven't done something like this before."

The redhead rolled her eyes, giving the engineer a light clap to the back. "Hurry up-- we're supposed to meet in that alley over there."  
Chocolate eyes surveyed a small, dark alley sandwiched between two buildings- one of which have become overgrown with vines. An eyebrow was raised.

"I said it before, and I'll say it again. This is sketchy."

"Eh, sketchy is sketchy, but it's for a diamond so who cares?" The freckled go-getter shrugged.

"I swear, Petch," Olivia began, pointing a finger. "Your nonchalance is going to get you killed one day."

The redhead scoffed. "Wouldn't have it any other way."

"Really?"

"No, actually. I'd rather die as Enderman or golem bait than anything else."

Olivia hummed as they walked closer to the alley by the gates. "What makes you say that?"

"They're hard, heavy hitters," Petra began. "It'd make for a cool, yet a quick and painful death."

"I worry for you sometimes," the engineer said.

Finally, the two stepped into the alleyway. Immediately, the atmosphere hung over the engineer like a thick honey- a dark, sinister, very unsafe honey. For a moment, Olivia was concerned monsters were going to spawn in, before realizing that there was just enough light to ward off any monsters.  
The steampunk girl gulped, tugging at the edge of her tunic once more.

"It's- uh, dark. V-very dark, in here."  
Petra, in front of her, put her hands to her hips and surveyed the area.

"That's weird-- he said the dark, creepy alley close to the gates, but he's not here. Maybe he's late." At the redhead's words, Olivia blinked.

"Those were his exact words? There are more than one dark, creepy alleys hanging around the gate- are you sure that _this one_ is the one he meant?"

"Well, I _was._ " Licking her lips, the freckled go-getter turned around. "Okay, new plan. You stay here just in case this is the spot he meant, and I'll look around. I guess I could have heard him wrong. Then again, I've never gotten a meet-up spot wrong before."

Taking a moment to consider her options, Olivia spoke. "Okay, I'll- I'll hold down the fort. And, for the record? I still don't agree with this trade."

Petra rolled her mirth-filled eyes. "Thanks, 'Liv. I'll be back before you know it, you big baby." Pivoting on the balls of her feet, the redhead turned, looking over her shoulder at the engineer. "If he shows up while I'm gone, just stall for me."

Okay. Olivia was capable at doing that.  
A color outlier caught her eye. A chest? What was that doing here? Did the trader set that up? Chocolate brown eyes blinked at it, resisting the urge to step forward. It didn't have a slight red tint to the button- a sure sign that it wasn't a redstone trap. How a trap could be set up with this environment was a mystery, but still a possibility. 

Before the engineer realized it, possibilities were running through her head.  
The ground was cobblestone- meaning that a trap involving sticky pistons had to be involved. It could drop the target down- what, two or three blocks? The possibilities from that point were endless. Lava, drowning, arrows to the face, all very real yet very interesting ways to make sure somebody has the materials they need to finish a trade. Eyes glared into the button of the chest, wondering, wondering, wondering-

"Ahem."

A slight gasp made its way from the engineer's mouth, and she turned to see... a man with greasy hair and a slender frame. A beard ran down his face, and his facial features were sullen- almost as if he were malnourished. Olive green robes with marigold clasps wrapped around his body, held up by said clasps and a belt. The belt had a sapphire, smack-dab in the middle of the belt. Just who was this man?

"And just who are _you?"_ Sneered the man, unknowingly voicing Olivia's thoughts. "I'm waiting."

"Olivia," the engineer evenly replied. Years of messing with redstone had affected her biological makeup- enough to the point that Olivia's blood glows a soft, barely noticeable red in the dark. It was still there, and it served mostly to light up her face. That fact didn't help her now that she was standing in front of a stranger- one that may or may not have ill intent. "What's it to you?"

"I'm supposed to meet with Petra, not whatever you're supposed to be!" The man angrily hissed, glaring at the young steampunk girl. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't walk out of here right now."

Logic, Olivia knew, was key. "Well, for one, you wouldn't get your skull." The man raised a brow, and it seemed he had not expected an answer. "You seem a little rushed- where else would you find a skull in such a short amount of time? Besides, Petra left to survey the area- there are multiple dark, creepy alleys by the gate."

The man cleared his throat a little, the leer softening only slightly. "Well, yes, I suppose that is true. Now, will Petra take long?"

"She shouldn't be," Olivia replied. "You know her- as Resident Go-Getter, she's quick in combat and even quicker in trade." She was going off of rumors, really, but it did do well to ease the stranger. He raised a brow as he hummed.

"I don't suppose you have the skull in her place?"

"Unfortunately, no," Olivia responded. "But, as I said- she should be here soon enough."

The engineer was proven right by a quick call from behind her. "Ivor!"

"Ah- and not a moment too soon." 'Ivor' said, his hands on his hips. "Although your partner here does make for good conversation, I was beginning to worry you wouldn't make it."

"Ah, well- that's not good." Petra began, scratching the back of her neck a little. "I left my friend Olivia here while I went out to look for you."

Ivor hummed, a hand brought to his chin. "Yes, well, she _did_ assure you'd be back soon."

"I've got what you asked for." 

Olivia nodded, feeling appropriate in that moment to speak up. "If you have what you promised her."

"Although I appreciate that your friend here has some social skills," Ivor began, "you didn't say anything about her being here when we first met. And I don't like surprises." Well, at least he seemed less angry. That was good.

"My friend is fine, right, 'Liv? There's no problem here." Petra said, raising an eyebrow at the engineer. Olivia was really starting to wish she stayed back at the convention. "Let's not be too hasty, okay? This is just a... little misunderstanding."

The engineer shrugged. "I'm cool if he's cool."

"Proceed, then," Ivor pressed, stepping closer. 

Olivia could now see the specks of red dust on his clothing- maybe he dabbled with it a little?  
Petra reached into her inventory, fishing out the wither skull. With more of a casual demeanor than Olivia could pull off, the redhead handed over the drop to the lanky man. Dark, murky eyes inspected the skull for a moment, turning the drop over in his hands. A wicked grin formed on the man's face. So many red flags were being set off in Olivia's head. 

_This is seriously sketchy, Petra. Why does it look like he knows what a wither skull looks like?_

"I'll take that diamond now," Petra evenly told the lanky man.

Ivor looked back up at the go-getter, and with a much more muted grin, he nodded his head towards the chest from earlier. "Take it. You earned it."

So many red flags, Olivia couldn't help but think.  
Slow steps were taken towards the chest. Petra, eager to get her earnings, opened the chest, and-

"Oh boy. That- that is _not_ a diamond."

"No, it's lapis!" Growled Petra, glaring over her shoulder to where Ivor was just a second ago. _Oh no._ "Of all the dirty, underhanded tricks to pull!"

Knowing it was better than to try and calm Petra down, Olivia spoke. "Let's go after him, then!"

The two rocketed out of the dark alley, boots slamming down on the hard stone road.  
The angry glare on Petra's face seemed to worsen as time went on, and Olivia was afraid what exactly she'd do to Ivor. Everyone in town knew better than to anger Petra. When she first started out with the whole go-getter business, somebody thought it would be funny to wimp out on the trade and give the redhead carrots instead of iron. When everyone woke up the next day, they noticed the man had more than just a black eye. It was since agreed that everyone should pull through with Petra's trades. Obviously, this Ivor had either a death wish or thought he could get away with it.

"I'm either getting that diamond, or I'm getting my skull back--"

"Or you'll make him pay, right?" Olivia interrupted.

Petra averted her gaze, urging Olivia forward. "Come on."

They popped out of another alley, sweeping their gaze over the crowd. "Do you see him anywhere?"

"We lost him," Olivia spoke.

"Then we'll just have to find him again. Go!" The two rocketed towards different directions.

After a minute, Olivia slowed down- it wasn't good to run in a crowd like this.  
It would cause too much panic, probably. Looking around, Olivia saw several different stands- a soup stand, a fortune teller stand, a stand with the Order merch- Her thoughts were interrupted once more.

The engineer caught a glimpse of diamond armor, followed by the screams of a crowd.

"There he is! Gabriel! Gabriel!!"  
Several pairs of feet slapped against the stone road, eager to catch a glimpse of the swordsman. The crowd, however, was stopped by an usher. The road, now free to walk through, was a sage opportunity for Olivia to go by. It's not as if she didn't want to look at a real member of the Order himself, it's just that she had something better to do than just stand around. As much as she'd like to wistfully stand around and wish for the day she'd meet the Order, Petra would probably beat her ass if she slacked off at all. To be fair, the redhead would probably do that anyway if they couldn't find Ivor.

"Step aside, please!"

"I have just one question!"

"Hold all your questions until after the keynote!"

"But the keynote's sold out," a bystander complained.

The usher had the decency to look at least a little embarrassed. "H-hold all your questions anyway."

-

The gardener walked across the road.  
Merrily holding her piggy, Jesse was humming something- nothing in particular, but at the same time, something she felt would be appropriate to have in the background of this scene. With her small stature, it was easy to weave between the crowd and avoid attention. Nonetheless, any attention was still nerve-racking, unless it was from her siblings and Petra.

"Nice song-"  
Jesse gasped at the sudden comment, almost tripping over her feet.

"Sorry, sorry- I didn't mean to scare you." It was Lukas, Jesse recognized. Oh. There go the nerves.

"It's- it's fine," Jesse said, holding her piggy closer, hiding part of her face with him.

"Y'know, you were right." Lukas said, reiterating once he saw her confused stare. "You _did_ destroy us."

A happy grin spread on the gardener's face. "Yeah!!! Yeah we did!!!"  
Lukas tried to hold back a chuckle at this rather adorable scene. Oh dear. It was hard to believe someone as adorable as Jesse existed. In a world filled with monsters and creatures that want your head, it's never simple to look at the bright side of life. _Though,_ Lukas supposed, _maybe people like her exist to bring hope to others. It's not impossible._

"Thanks for being so cool about it." A grin spread on his face despite Lukas trying to hide his amusement. After a moment, the grin faded, and he averted his gaze. "It's- uh, it's not fair you had to deal with Aiden being an idiot. Is- is your toy okay?"

"Reuben?" Jesse inquired, only to resume a second later. "Yeah, he's fine." A mechanical oink sounded out from the plush toy, making Lukas jump a little bit. "I can't imagine it was easy being disqualified."

"Yeah... well, there's always next year."  
Lukas had huffed a bit at the reminder. After Aiden had pulled that stunt with the lava block, his team had been disqualified for griefing. It was a tough hit to the Ocelot's pride, but they were lucky they weren't disqualified from the competition altogether. "Again, congratulations on the win."

"Thank you!" Jesse almost sang, bringing her piggy closer to her chest.

An awkward silence passed between the two for a moment, before Lukas decided to speak up. "Hey, uh, you didn't happen to see a creepy guy with long hair and a beard roaming around, did you?"

"Hm? No, why?"

"He may or may not have scammed Petra out of a deal earlier."  
At this, Jesse gasped, her hand coming up to cover her mouth. 

"Oh dear! Everyone knows you're not supposed to mess with Petra!" The girl said, a concerned look washing over her features. "I'll try to keep an eye out. Who knows what will happen to him if he gets caught?"

"Thanks-- I appreciate it." The blonde had to fight the urge to ruffle the gardener's hair. "So, uh. We're cool?"

"Yeah, we're cool!"

"Cool, cool."

"Cool beans!"

"Cool-o-rama."

The gardener now had a grin that threatened to split her face in two. "Ha! See you later, Lukas!"

With their exchanged wrapped up, the two went about their way, keeping an eye out for the scummy scammer.


	8. Basements Are Where Secrets Lie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group snoops through a basement. Local Lukas in shock of local Honeybear.

"Oh, I'm in alright."  
Was the simple reply of Axel Posehn. How this man thought he could get away without a world of hurt escaped the mind of the young griefer, but one thing is for certain: nobody messes with Petra and gets away with it. Said redhead was standing right in front of him, a seething look on her face, and though it wasn't directed at Axel himself, he could still feel its unbridled fury waiting to escape in the form of a rather violent beatdown.

His big sister's voice sounded out from just behind Petra. "Any sign of him?"  
At these words, Petra shook her head.

"No, not even a glimpse. I gotta admit- he's pretty sneaky for his old age."

"I thought I saw him earlier, but it was just a false alarm." Olivia replied. "I'm glad I wasn't _too_ rude with the Ivor lookalike- if it was any one of you, though, she'd be pissed."

Axel rolled his eyes. "Oh, I'm perfectly friendly!"

The engineer scoffed. "As friendly as a spider, Axel."  
The noirette tried not to shiver at her own words; spiders were absolutely _brutal._

"Stay focused." Petra barked, earning mock-salutes from the siblings. 

"Yes ma'am!"  
They jokingly said, making the go-getter roll her eyes. A small smile tugged at the edge of the redhead's lips, but it disappeared in favor of her _still_ escaped victim.

Tiny footsteps drew everyone's attention to the youngest of the group. Reuben was delicately tucked under her arms, but her siblings knew very well that that was one of the hardest ways to get the girl to let go of her piggy. Speaking of her piggy, why exactly did Reuben smell like grease?  
Olivia would have to wash him later.

The girl tilted her head and spoke. "Lukas told me what happened."

Axel blanched. Lukas? As in, Lukas the _Ocelot_ Lukas?  
What did he think he was doing, talking to his little sister? Did he have an ulterior motive? The griefer wouldn't be surprised; the Ocelots were nothing but rude to the Symphony _each year_ of the building competition. In the back of his mind, he could imagine dunking Lukas' head in a vat of water while repeatedly shouting 'who do you work for?' Such a thought almost made the griefer smile. _Almost._  
...Okay, yeah, it _did_ make the griefer smile, but he hid it behind a well-placed cough.

He coughed for _real_ when his little sister pointed at the top of the stairs leading to the keynote and said, "Is that the guy?"

Everyone rapidly turned their head towards the building, and sure enough- Ivor, the creepy guy in the beard, was just about inside. Dark, murky brown eyes looked over his shoulder, a sneering grin on his face as if to state he was victorious. Victorious of _what,_ exactly?  
Jesse tried to decrypt what it was, but his eyes _reeked_ of intent- so much so that she could practically see runes in his eyes. The girl opted to shiver instead.

"Looks like he's heading inside the hall," Olivia narrated. 

"Yeah, thanks, 'Liv, we can see that." Petra stated in an annoyed tone, only to half a second later shake her head. "...sorry."

"It's fine. I wanna kick his ass too." Olivia waved off. 

"Hey guys," Lukas greeted from behind the group.  
Axel immediately assumed a defensive stare, but the others either offered a wave or a smile in greeting.

"Lukas." Petra returned.

"I just wanted to say that, uh... whatever you're up to? I'm in."

The redhead gave a feral grin, sending shivers up the blonde's spine. "Welcome to the party. Our target just went inside the Keynote Hall."

"We're gonna have to get past the usher in order to get inside," observed Olivia.

The griefer looked around, his eyes landing on the nearby chicken machine. "We could create a distraction," he began, drawing eyes from the rest of the group. "I saw that man flinch at the sight of chickens- he's totally afraid of them! If we break that pane right there, then we can create a big enough distraction for him to let us through. A nearby vendor is selling some slime balls, we could use nine of those to make a slime block- and if we make Jesse jump onto it, then they should have enough momentum to break said glass."

Petra whistled, impressed at the neat on-the-spot plan. Likewise, Olivia and Lukas nodded.

"Or... we _could_ do this the easy way." Jesse grinned, holding Reuben closer to her chest. "Remember one of the prizes for winning?"

Olivia gasped. "That's right! One of them was an invite to the keynote, and later a personal meeting with the Warrior himself!"

"But how is the usher going to let Petra and I in?" Lukas asked. "I'm not part of the Symphony," Axel raised a brow, "and Petra didn't even _participate_ in the competition."

Blue eyes locked with bright green. "Watch and learn, dear Lukas." 

The girl gestured for the others to follow, and follow they did- they were now face-to-face with the Usher himself. Lukas felt himself shrinking under the big man's gaze. What, exactly, did Jesse have in mind? Was she going to _threaten_ him? That wouldn't even work- she was too small and quiet to take seriously! Now that he thought about it, she tried threatening him earlier too with the promise of beating him in the competition. Why couldn't he see that? Now that was just concrete proof that she was awful at threats.  
The ball of nervousness tightened in the blonde's chest as Jesse opened her mouth.

"Excuse me?"  
...what.

At the small voice, the usher looked down at the child and smiled. "Hey dudette, what's up?"

"I'm part of the team that won the Building Competition!"  
The girl beamed- and for a moment, Lukas mistook her as a precious child, unaffected by the darkness and frights of the world. And then he remembered that said child was up to something.

"Oh, are you now, dudette? That's cool! Is this your team?"

"Mhm!"

"Well, you guys are free to go in! Enjoy the keynote, dudes."  
A large hand rustled the little girl's head, messing up her hair. In response, the girl giggled.

"Thank you!" She chirped, walking through the gate.

Once they were inside, Lukas looked at the girl.

"I can't believe that worked."  
He flat-out told her, the girl giving him a cheeky grin in response.

"People don't tend to question the 'innocent babie' of the group." Jesse responded.

"I can't believe I didn't think of that sooner." Axel admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "I mean, I _know_ how effective your puppy-dog-eyes are."

"Does- does she do that often?" Petra asked, slightly concerned.

"You don't know the _half_ of it." Olivia sighed. "She gets better at it every time."

The gardener's cheeky grin threatened to split her face in two.  
Petra and Lukas shared a mildly alarmed look- they had no idea the small girl was capable of things like this.

Deciding that they were _too_ off track, Petra looked around, only to find Ivor was nowhere to be seen.

"...where'd he go?" Her brows furrowed at the reminder of her unfulfilled deal.

"Think he went in there?" Jesse inquired, pointing at an ajar door on the other side of the room. It swayed slightly- almost as if whoever'd opened it had done so recently. At Petra's nod, the group immediately hightailed towards said door- Jesse in the front and Lukas in the back. 

The gardener leaned against the door and peeked inside, wondering if Ivor was still in the immediate area. If he was, then the mission would be toast. Reuben sat just inside the door- a sort of lookout. Nobody would expect a doll to _actually_ pick up and relay information- hence why Jesse had given him the go-ahead to be in front. A tense silence fell over the group as Reuben went deeper inside the door, faint mechanical whirring echoing throughout the room. When the windup toy finally emerged with a pep in his step, that was how they knew they were free to go in.  
The group of five steeled their nerves- Ivor was, after all, scary, not to mention stealthy and knowledgeable. Finally, when Jesse was _just about_ to enter the door, Lukas spoke up. He'd been at the back of the group for a while, and had a more than concerned look on his face.

"What do we do once we catch him?" Four (five, including Reuben) sets of eyes came to stare at the only blonde in the group. "There are a million ways to play this. But, uh... considering this isn't my fight, I'll follow your lead."

Olivia thought for a moment, then spoke up. "Whatever we have to."

The blue-eyed boy blinked. "Really? I- I mean, not that I don't think that's not the best idea or anything, but... what if a fight breaks out?"

"Then let's hope it doesn't come to that." Petra responded, rolling her shoulders. "Ivor's a frail guy, I don't think he'd put up much of a fight on his own."

"That's true," Lukas interjected, "but what if we have to exchange something else in return for the skull?"

The redhead offered a feral grin. "That's when we fight him."

"Ready?" The youngest of the group asked, adjusting the bow in her hair. 

"Ready." Replied Petra. 

With that, the gardener stepped inside the basement, led by her little piggy.

Bright, curious emerald eyes peeked around a corner- contrasting heavily with the gray color of the stone basement. Two sets of brown eyes followed suit, looking for any danger. Reluctant blue ones gazed worriedly into the room, and a final set of determined brown was the last to peek inside....  
Save for a button-eyed doll that would roll his eyes if he could, who was already standing a safe distance from the corner.

"See anything?" Whispered the Ocelot, squinting in order to try and achieve a farther field of view.

Petra shook her head, taking in the sights of the several bookshelves and potions. Interesting- Ivor was a potionologist. He seemed to be versatile in the art, too- several different-colored potions lined the bookshelves, offering an almost ominous vibe with how many there were.  
Several different bottle shapes stood out- one that looked like a tear drop, another that was shaped like a beaker, one that had a rather peculiar zig-zag design. Each bottle reflected the dim light of two overhead glowstone blocks, providing little reading room for the words on the spines of each piece of writing.

"He must have gone out another way." Petra finally said. Olivia was the first to break the cautious formation, everyone else following suit.

"What is all this?" Jesse inquired, stepping closer to one of the bookshelves. 

Axel and Olivia hummed. "Looks like it used to be the basement, based off the layout." The knitter of the group said, tying his scarf tighter around his neck. It was chilly down here.

"Weird place to have a hideout." Commented Olivia, drawing her finger down one of the spines.

A determined look crossed the go-getter's face. "I bet you anything I'll find my Wither skull here." Two sets of footsteps travelled deeper within the basement- Axel and Jesse.

"And if we find anything else cool to steal along the way, so be it, yeah?" Axel asked.

"Axel, that's not what we're here to do." Petra lightly scolded.

"Yeah, Axel." Olivia started, pointing a finger at the goblincore boy. "We should wait to use those kinds of measures _after_ Ivor proves difficult."

The boy huffed. "Well, Ivor's not here, so I say we take- at least, until he returns the skull."

"I don't want to stoop to his level." Petra interjected, brows furrowed.

"You're not stooping to his level, _I_ am."

"...that doesn't make it any better, you know."

Olivia sighed. "Let's just focus on finding the skull for now, yeah?"

The burly boy stuck out his tongue at Olivia, crossing his arms. "Nobody lets me have any fun."

The engineer raised a brow. "We let you hang out with us," she playfully remarked.

"Pfft- yeah, true." Axel responded, waving her off and turning another corner. "Intentionally or not, you know you'd be lost without me."

Petra blinked. "Hey, that reminds me- Jesse, can you read the intent of the bookshelves?"

The gardener hummed. "Not with all these books on them. On bookshelves, runes tend to be _under_ the books, not on the frame. Not only that, but I doubt that Ivor himself made the layout of the room- the intent wouldn't belong to him, but instead whoever was commissioned to build this place. Besides, if we removed the books, that'd take too much time."

Olivia nodded. "Yeah, time's running thin- the faster we find what we're looking for, the faster we can get the hell out of dodge. I _really_ don't want to see what Ivor would do if he sees us snooping around his things."

With that, the group made their way to look around the place.  
The gardener of the group took it upon herself to start reading the spines on the books- just to see what kind of things their opponent was into.

 _Mostly stuff about brewing,_ she thought, staring closer. _Healing potions and potions for everyday stress? Don't mind if I do. There's a copy right next to it, anyway- he'd hardly notice if it was gone. Might be useful for when we get hurt too badly during bonemeal-hunting._

With that, Jesse gently plucked the book off the shelf, and placed it in her inventory.  
On the other side of the basement, Olivia stared over Petra's shoulder. 

"Oh, hello." Petra said, pulling out a golden sword from the chest she was peering into. Curious brown eyes stared at their reflection in the sword, accidentally startling the engineer when she swung it back and forth a couple times. A hum escaped the redhead's mouth. "Too heavy. And too soft." Petra commented to the steampunk girl.

"But super flashy." Olivia pointed out, noting the reflection it gave off. "I'm sure if you craft your own gold sword, it'll lean more into your sword preferences."

"Yeah- seems like this guy doesn't do much fighting." Petra hummed, pointing at the other girl. "You still have that stone sword you crafted, right?"

"Oh, yeah." Olivia said, unsheathing it from her inventory. "Somebody tried to trade me for it earlier in exchange for information, but I stood my ground."

The redhead chuckled. "Yeah, people tend to do that for a really good sword." Petra sheathed the golden weapon, a grin clear on her face.

Olivia smirked. "You're keeping it? What happened to Little Miss Goody Two-Shoes?" 

"Pfft, shut up, 'Liv."

"I thought it was 'too soft, too heavy.'"

"Eh, it still might come in handy." The girl knelt down to look through the chest again, turning her head to look over at the engineer. "And it IS super flashy."

Not too far ahead, Axel and Jesse were situated in front of a display of potions.  
"Find anything?" The gardener asked the griefer, her head tilted in curiosity. 

"I wanna steal that, and that-" Axel pointed to different colored potions, causing the girl's eyebrow to raise. "-I just wanna touch that." Axel stated, looking over at a dotted mushroom.

"That's a mushroom, Axel."

"I know."

"We don't know if it's safe for consumption- or to touch, even." Jesse continued. The bow at the end of her braid twirled a bit with her movement. "Seriously, stop letting your curiosity- hey, what's that?"

Something at the edge of Jesse's eye caught her attention, drawing curious stares from both siblings. There, a potion- glowing a gentle, steady magenta. Or was it lilac? Axel hummed, taking heavy-stepped strides towards the potion. Jesse followed suit, her much gentler footsteps echoing through the basement. The concoction radiated a brighter luminescence than any potion the teens have ever seen before, its light unbothered and unaffected by the glass it was contained within. From its skull-shaped container, Jesse supposed it was a rather important potion- though she was unable to get a read of its intent due to its luminosity. 

"...I swear I had a dream about this once." Axel commented, the steady magenta/lilac thrumming gently against his skin.

"Your deja-vu acting up again?" Jesse asked.

"...yeah." Axel tended to dream a lot. "Okay, potion-- I know this is a big step, but... I'd be honored if you'd come home with me." The burly boy reached his gloved hand out toward the potion, his eyes shining in awe. 

The gardener blinked up at him. "You sure? That seems important."

"If it's so important, I don't see why he doesn't have it in his inventory." That's a good point- people leave important things in their inventory so they wouldn't get stolen or destroyed. Jesse reluctantly looked back towards the potion, her lips curling into a slight frown.

"Just make sure it doesn't break in there. Who knows what this thing's made of?" A gloved hand went up to ruffle her hair the same moment another went to grab the potion.

"I'll be fine, Jess. I'll keep it away from the other things in my inventory, alright?" Axel offered a warm smile to the gardener, who returned the gesture. 

A thoughtful look crossed the girl's face. "Okay... but, there's literally no way he won't notice his fancy potion's gone missing."

The burly boy looked around a bit, before grabbing a similar-looking potion and putting it where the fancy potion once lay. "A good thief always covers their tracks."

"Oh yeah, the _perfect_ crime." Jesse responded, rolling her eyes. With how bright that potion was, she'd be surprised if Ivor _didn't_ notice that that wasn't the right one. Axel walked back to the position he was in before, browsing the potions that were on the shelf.

 _Isn't that a... potion of regeneration?_ A quick fact-check from her (stolen) book proved her correct. _What's he even need that glowy one for anyway? A light show? A potion of regeration's more useful, in my opinion. Hey, maybe he's doing the guy a favor?_  
Once Jesse looked up from the book, a lever caught her eye. _Huh, the potion was blocking that from view. Wonder what it's for?_

Simple curiosity urged her to grab the lever in her hands and pull it. The sound of pistons and a gasp came from the gardener's left, showing a descending bookcase and Olivia- who'd walked past Axel and Jesse while they were talking. The engineer had almost fallen over from the sudden movement, but was quick to regain her balance.  
Slowly but surely, the bookcase descended, revealing a hidden compartment with a t-shaped structure. Jesse couldn't recognize any of the blocks. The rest of the group was attracted to the noise, curiosity in their faces as they slowly approached the compartment.

"The hell is all this?" Jesse inquired, raising an eyebrow.

Petra's eyebrows furrowed in recognition. "That's Soul Sand. It's everywhere in the Nether."

"And the block in the middle?" It didn't look like any kind of sand the gardener has ever seen, but the same could be said for the Soul Sand. 

Olivia's eyes lit up with curiosity and the thirst for knowledge. "I've never seen one of these before..." It was Olivia's Adventurous Tone. She'd use it whenever she saw something new, and took an interest with it. "I wonder if I just-- take a closer look..." The engineer reached her hand up to the mystery block, brown eyes filled with wonder.  
"Do you feel that?" Olivia inquired. "It's- it's almost pulsing!" 

"I'm not sure if it's a good idea to touch that." Lukas interjected. "Remember, not ALL blocks are safe to touch-"

"With bare hands, yeah, yeah." Axel interrupted. "We get it."

"I was just curious..." Olivia took on a defensive and slightly disappointed tone.

The gardener sweatdropped and spoke up. "D-don't forget what we're here for."

"Right, the skull." Olivia finished the thought. 

"Um, good news, weird news." Lukas interjected from in front of the odd structure, the chest in front only _just_ having been opened. "I found the skull, but..."

"The hell?" Jesse asked, looking at the mob drops. "Why'd Petch risk her neck for that skull if he's already got two of 'em?"

"He was in such a hurry to get it, too." Olivia added.

Axel adopted a concerned look. "Look, I don't care what anyone says, but this is probably all connected." He waved his big hand at the chest, an exasperated tone slipping into his words. "The chest with the skulls, hidden back here with everything else? That's gotta _mean_ something."

"But what?" Lukas asked from the front of the group. 

The redheaded go-getter suddenly paled. "Oh."

"Oh..?" Echoed Jesse.

"Soul Sand and three Wither skulls. That's the recipe for a Wither." At Petra's words, everyone's blood ran cold.

"Th- that's-" Axel began.

"One of the worst monsters there is." Petra finished. "And if he was in such a hurry to get _my_ skull, then that means..."

"He was planning to unleash it on a crowd of people!" Olivia blurted, tugging at her pigtails. From Jesse's arms, Reuben whirred in concern. "That's insane- we- we have to grab your skull, Petch, and get the _hell_ out of dodge while we still can! This guy's insane!"

At the sound of a door faintly opening and closing, everyone's hearts had jumped into their throats, and they knew they were in trouble.


	9. Indecision Will Lead to Your Doom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day is finally here.
> 
> Ivor _will_ show the world they were wrong to trust the Order.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you Nova for inspiring part of this chapter!!! :D

"'Don't you recognize me?'"

The words echoed through the basement and echoed back at the potionologist with a fierce ill-intent. Dark, murky brown eyes dirtied with the concerns of the past glared around the basement with a sinister eagerness hidden within. Today was the day. He'd been waiting for this day ever since he'd heard about EnderCon, about how Gabriel would be there, drinking up all the public attention for nothing but a false sense of validation.  
Ivor didn't know how Gabriel thought he could use public attention to ease his own suffering. The guilt will still be there, tearing apart slowly at his insides and turning him into nothing but a shadow of who he once was.

"Or, wait... 'surprised to see me?'" 

Every move that he made tonight had to _count_ if he wanted the world to know the truth. That _includes_ his overly dramatic reveal. Yes, Ivor was aware that his entrance would be a little _too_ flashy, but the general public _remembered_ flashy.  
If the public remembered him, then Ivor doubted that he'd have to explain the truth more than once. Repetition, after all, is bad on the throat and the mind.

"No, that's not good... 'thought you were rid of me, didn't you?'" A foul grin spread on the lanky man's face, and for a moment runes appeared in his eyes, telling of _just_ how strongly the potionologist felt about the situation. "That's better."

The walls shivered with that last remark, and the bonded bookshelves seemed to _shift_ at the presence of their maker.   
Ominous footsteps echoed throughout the basement.

The lanky man approached one of the potion stations with vigor. Today was finally the day.

_They'll finally see how wrong they were, trusting the Order. I'll finally tell them the-_

A gentle _thud_ of a potion clattering against the ground echoed throughout the basement, and Ivor could instantly tell that somebody else's Intent was in play. Otherwise, the potion would have shattered, and Ivor would have to clean it up at a later date. A glare made its way onto the lanky man's face, and he spun around with a renewed energy.

"What was that?" He asked into the far reaches of the basement. There were several hiding spots, Ivor was aware of this, so there could very well be anybody hidden anywhere in the room. "Who's there?" 

Ivor's deep voice flowed through the air like a slow yet strong stream, laced with the Intent of _find intruder._ He willed his legs to move in the direction of the noise.  
Sure enough, laying on the ground was a potion of swiftness, though according to the laws of physics the glass should have well been broken by now. There was a person hiding behind the bookshelf- they couldn't fool him. He could smell the gentle scent of flowers. 

Footsteps echoed against the surrounding bookshelves as Ivor slowly turned the corner, and he could practically _feel_ the desire to hide and fear emanating off of this person. 

Muddy brown eyes peered around the corner and-

"I'm right here, Ivor."   
The man recognized that voice. It was Olivia- how'd she find his hideout? 

Ivor could faintly register the feeling of _relief_ coming from the corner. What was more important right now was dealing with the girl's confrontation. Surely, she came to get proper payment- or worse yet, the skull. He couldn't let that happen- not when he was so close to victory.

"What are you doing here?" He sneered, then as realization came over him, his eyes widened. "What did you see?"  
He had asked that question in a softer tone. If Olivia had seen the beginnings of a Wither structure, then his operation could very much be destroyed on the spot. 

"Leave her alone!"   
Petra followed him as well. That was much more expected, he _did_ hear rumors of Petra being rather cross had she not earned her right pay. Turning his head to the left, he could see the furious female with _rage rage rage_ in her eyes. 

"Back off, pal."  
A much bigger, burly boy had appeared around the corner. A look to the left of the boy, and a blonde with a jacket on was standing between he and Petra. With a growing sense of horror Ivor had realized that these two have gathered their gang to get the right payment. Now _that_ was worrisome. They could cover enough ground to be able to find his Wither in seconds. 

"You two..." the man sneered, covering up his faint fear. "You followed me here, haven't you? Not to mention you've brought your entire gang..."

"You thought you could just screw us over and get away with it, didn't you?" Petra accused, an angry freckled hand pointing at the man. 

"We're here to prove you wrong." Olivia had finished.

Not good, they had him surrounded. They could take him down, should he not have safety precautions. Idly, Ivor was glad to have read that _'How to Make an Evil Lair for Dummies'_ book.  
He steeled his nerves and readied himself to get moving. 

"What are you going to do about it?"   
Ivor watched as the burly boy moved to stand behind Olivia. That boy meant business- it was likely he could give the potionologist a black eye if he came too close. "I have what I want, and you have exactly what you earned."  
That was a lie, and he was pretty sure the children could pick up on that. The truth was, Petra deserved much more than just a diamond- around fifteen to twenty of them, really. "Now get out before I put you out," Ivor threatened, his glare hardening.

"Pay us what you owe us." Olivia answered, stepping closer to the lanky man. "You give us a diamond, and we'll get out of your hair." 

"I won't be threatened-- not by the likes of you." Ivor stubbornly stated.

This angered the burly boy. " _Nobody_ talks to Olivia that way." Ivor fought back the urge to step back when he saw _just how tall_ the burly boy was, seeing as his shadow quickly fell over Ivor's figure as he got closer. It was honestly a little intimidating to the potionologist. "Now shut your mouth, or I'll make sure it _stays_ shut myself."

"Enough!" The man shouted, glaring at the gaggle of teens. "You've wasted too much of my time already." The Keynote was about to start- Ivor couldn't just stand around. The people _deserved_ to know the truth. Quickly, he raced around the corner- over to his iron golem station.

He dove behind the iron t-structure, readying a pumpkin from his inventory. Once he'd confirmed the teens were in front of him, Ivor climbed on top of the structure, pumpkin over his head in preparation to place it down. He readied his Intent- he didn't actually want to _kill_ anybody, just chase them out. Mostly through intimidation tactics.  
When the potionologist was certain his Intent was clear, he spoke.

"If you won't leave of your own volition, I'll happily remove you myself!"

And Ivor _placed_ the pumpkin on the t-structure, Intent clear, and the blocks shook with effort as a soul was summoned into the being. Ivor walked around to stand in front of the golem, glaring at the kids who could very well uproot his plans.

"Show our friends the door, will you?"  
With satisfaction, he watched as the golem swung towards the children, all of them scattering in different directions towards the door. Good, he was free to continue his plans. Ivor walked towards his Wither construct, ready to prep it for the big show.

Jesse knew something was wrong when she head the sound of ethereal metal stepping around in the basement. For Reuben's sake, she'd placed him in her inventory- he'll be mad at her later, but it was for his safety. Jesse watched from her hiding spot as Petra, Axel, and Olivia left up the stairs-   
Hold on, where was Lukas going?

She watched as the blonde dodged another blow from the golem, and the gardener knew she had to do something.   
The gardener hadn't registered the fact that her feet were slapping against the basement floor, but instead realized that she had grabbed a hand of bonemeal from the satchel hanging at her hip. With a short cry, the girl tossed that handful of bonemeal up at the golem.

The vines that the golem had spawned with started growing rapidly, clogging up the mob's joints with a fury. 

"Come on!" Jesse shouted at the starstruck Lukas, who had froze at the first sign of Jesse in danger. The gardener grabbed the Ocelot's hand, and they _rocketed_ up the stairs before the golem could break free of its planty prison. 

"W-was that bonemeal?" Lukas asked between pants. "How'd you know that would work?" 

"I didn't!" Jesse responded, slamming the door shut behind her once they were both out of the doorway. "My feet moved on their own!"

"Do you just instinctively throw bonemeal at every threat you see?"

"Sometimes, yeah! Other times, I use my shears!"

"Don't you have a sword?"

"Um- yes, but I'm not that good with it!"   
Lukas blinked at the gardener as they caught up with the rest of the group. Over onstage, a couple of people were announcing the introduction of Gabriel the Warrior.

"-here at Endercon! We are very proud to present--"

"The one! The only!"

"Gabriel!" The two hosts cheered, backing off stage to present none other than the Serene Cyan Swordsman himself.

The crowd went wild as the man turned to face them with his smiling face, a couple people swooning at the image. Various shouts of affection from the crowd were aimed at the man, and it was clear that the swordsman had been embarrassed by all the compliments- his cheeks grew darker with each shout of validation.  
The man waved his hands at the crowd in an effort to get them to calm down, and with a simple polite 'thank you,' the crowd had swooned further.

 _His voice... it's so pretty!_ Jesse couldn't help but think, gaping up at the man onstage. _And to think that we won a private meeting session with the guy..._

"Are. You. With me?" Gabriel cheered into the crowd.  
The audience erupted into a booming cheer, the sound echoing off the top of Keynote Hall and swimming into the ears of the five frightened teens (plus Reuben.)

Said group of five was at the back of the crowd, huddled up together in a circle.

"Everybody okay?" Olivia asked, looking into everyone's eyes.

"A- a little shaken up, but otherwise fine." Lukas responded, fiddling with the cuff of his leather jacket. 

Petra spoke up. "That guy has an iron golem and all the ingredients to build a Wither down there. If he unleashes it into a crowd of people, then... we have to act fast."

"It just so happens that the greatest warrior of all time is in the building." Olivia observed, jerking a thumb towards the stage. Behind her, Gabriel began a monologue, pouring out his heart to the audience below. "We could ask him for help." The gardener stared at the engineer, a little disbelief in her face.

"We can't interrupt the Keynote!" The girl blurted, running her hand through her hair. Beside her, Reuben oinked. "That'll raise concerns and fear, and the crowd doesn't need that right now!"

"She's right." Petra interjected, looking up at the warrior himself. "There are guards around the building- we have to ask _them_ for help."

"Do you really think they can handle an iron golem on their own?" Axel interjected, wrapping an arm around Olivia. "Not to mention, he has a _ton_ of potions down there. There's probably a good chance that he has a splash potion of harm, or something. We can't subject them to that!"

Lukas hummed. "That's true. But we can't- we can't just stand here and do _nothing."_

"Fine! Then I suggest I'll go downstairs and _yoink_ one of his skulls!" Jesse pouted, stomping the ground. Lukas and Petra were reminded of just how childish the girl could be.

"That's a really bad idea, Starshine." Olivia interjected, looking pointedly at Jesse. The gardener's pout deepened. 

"So is getting his attention!" Jesse spoke. "Everyone would find us crazy and the guards will _immediately_ arrest us!"

"They have a point..." Axel spoke, putting his hand on his chin. "Not to mention, they'll find out Lukas and Petra weren't even part of the Symphony if we let them look at us for too long."

Petra sighed. "Can we just make a decision and leave it there? We're running out of time." 

"I say we go to the guards." Lukas interjected. "They're trained, they _know_ how to take care of suspicious activity. Besides, Gabriel's here for a keynote, not a damn fight with a creepy old man and his pet golem."

"This isn't just _suspicious activity,_ Lukas." Axel responded, his hand going up to squeeze the bridge of his nose. "This is straight-up Eldritch threat shit we're talking about." 

The redheaded go-getter crossed her arms. "Look, if you need me to go down there and get my own skull, I'm more than happy to do so. As long as it means he won't unleash a fucking Wither on everybody."

"Listen, Petra," Olivia began, tugging at the edge of her tunic. "I know you wish to die by the hands of a golem, but we can't have you biting the dust right now." 

The redhead rolled her eyes with the faintest smirk on her face. "I'm not gonna die, 'Liv."

"Wh- why do you wish for that kinda death?" Lukas asked, concern clear on his face. 

"Fast and painful." Was the simply reply. At the rest of the group staring at her with the same worried glance, she asked, "What?"

"I have a question for you."   
At the familiar, ill-intended voice, the group of five shivered. Jesse let Reuben hop into her arms.

"Fuck..." Petra breathed, going a good few shades paler.  
They took too long debating the way to go about this. Now they're paying for it.

"Excuse me sir-- you'll have to wait your turn." Gabriel politely replied, whispers going through the crowd at the sound of the potion master's voice.

"Just tell me first-" Ivor began, walking his way to the front of the crowd. "-do you _really_ believe _anyone_ can be great?"   
Jesse couldn't help but shiver at his words- they were _filled to the brim_ with ill-intent, and it made the girl's stomach _churn_ at its ferocity.

"With enough hard work, yes." Gabriel replied, his voice gaining an edge to it.

"Was _that_ where I went wrong?!" Ivor shouted up at the man, pushing past another person. "I simply didn't _WORK_ hard enough?!" 

. . .

"Ivor?"

A wave of nausea racked the girl's body at Gabriel's starstruck tone. He _knows_ Ivor.   
Reuben had to oink up at the girl for her to regain her foothold in reality. 

"Is- is that really you?"  
Gabriel's eyes shone of _awe, relief, family..._  
But Ivor's was anything but. "You could have just approached me after the Keynote." Gabriel offered.

"That's the guy who attacked us in the basement!" Petra shouted from the back of the crowd, and from there Jesse could see Gabriel's _confusion disbelief._

"Ivor...? I doubt he'd do such a thing. This- this isn't some cruel surprise, is it?" His utter _confusion_ made Jesse's legs buckle a little, and Olivia had to hold onto her to make sure she didn't fall.

"If it's surprises you want..." Ivor began, and his _anger truth fury_ had Jesse reeling. "...you're in for a treat."

This was too much strong intent to read over a short period of time. The gardener could feel herself getting lightheaded, Reuben's various mechanical noises grounding her to reality. 

"Why don't you tell them the _real_ story, _Gabriel?!"_ The man was crazed, Jesse could tell.  
His eyes _reeked_ with a desire to _tell the truth._ It was mixed with too much negative emotion that Jesse had to cover her mouth from the second wave of nausea. 

"I see time... has made you bitter." Gabriel hesitated to say.

"And it's made you an _even bigger fool."_ Ivor wrapped his arm around the warrior, and he looked over at the crowd. "Now, these people were promised greatness-- and I'm ready to deliver."

The potion master walked toward a lever on the wall, and the group's hearts once more rocketed to their throats. 

"I'm sorry this is how they had to learn the truth..." Ivor began, sending a shiver up the gardener's spine. 

"Gabriel, you _HAVE_ to stop him!" Lukas shouted, desperate tears forming at the edges of his eyes.

The man flipped the switch, and the Wither structure arose from a hole in the ground. 

"Nothing built can last forever, _Gabriel._ "

By the time Gabriel registered _what exactly_ the man was doing, he was too late. "Ivor, no-"

"Let's see how your brave _hero_ fares against _THIS!"_

And as Ivor placed the final skull on top of the mysterious block, a wave of energy surged throughout the Keynote Hall, knocking the two onstage into the crowd below.

And Jesse couldn't help but to say...

"Livy, I'm scared."


	10. The Day Everything Shifted One Inch to the Right

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A hundred people run from danger.
> 
> Only four make it through the portal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you Nova for inspiring part of this chapter!! :D

The beast immediately materialized, and everybody who had a remaining sense of survival started hightailing towards the exits.

"...me too, Jesse." Olivia replied to Jesse's earlier remark, gently pulling the younger girl back.  
From Jesse's tight grasp, Reuben gave a rushed mechanical whirr.

"Creature-- attack!" The potionologist shouted at his creation.  
Jesse's head was spinning- she could feel nothing but the _fear fear fear_ from the people around her.

A soaring skull flew through the air, and Jesse had to _leap_ to her side.   
Reuben oinked in protest, quickly stopping his complaining once he'd seen the crater the skull had left behind. As the Wither launched another skull at the group, a couple of blocks _wriggled_ from within their nestled places, and were suddenly _ripped_ from each other- the Intent they were built with quickly erasing with a quick movement. 

The blocks gravitated towards the Wither, and it seemed almost as if the monster _absorbed_ the blocks, its spine growing fatter and fatter the more and more it absorbed.  
Gabriel had come running to shield the five children once it became clear they weren't going to run away, brandishing his sword with a determined look in his eyes.

"Everyone stay calm!" Too late, everyone was already fleeing or frozen. "This foul beast is no match for me!"

"Creature-- attack!" The potionologist commanded again, pointing at the world-famous warrior. 

The inside of the building just _kept being absorbed_ by the Wither, and it kept grewing bigger and bigger.   
The Warrior _leapt_ towards the monster, aiming his sword at the strange block in the middle- only to fall limply on the ground with a grunt.

A mechanical whirr and a gasp came from a doll and a girl respectively.  
Gabriel the Warrior was able to do _nothing_ against the monster. The thought made Jesse's head spin even more, and she stumbled a bit, losing her sense of balance.

"What have you _done?"_ Gabriel asked the potion master, a betrayed look in his eyes. 

"G-Gabriel-"  
The little gardener took frail steps towards the man, almost as if she could help him stand.

"No! Stay away! It's after me, not you!" Begged the warrior, wide eyes looking into the gardener's own terrified ones.

The potionologist, meanwhile, had gone into a thinking spree.  
The fact that this Wither could absorb blocks was unexpected, but it was nothing Ivor couldn't handle- still, he kept his hands on the potion he'd crafted in the case something went _wrong._ Not only that, but there was a child in the vicinity- he'd have to be quick, lest said child got injured.

"Look at him! The mighty Gabriel!"   
Ivor's shouts echoed through the remains of Keynote Hall, his eyes a strong telling source of his Intent. "Looks like _true_ greatness is out of his reach. He may not be able to defeat this creature-- but I can!"

The go-getter blanched.  
 _You mean to tell me that- that the only reason he unleashed a Wither on a crowd of people is to BRAG?!_

"Creature-- retreat!" Ivor had yelled up at the monster, ignoring the way the group of teenagers huddled together.  
The monster had slowly turned to Ivor and, with a sharp intake of breath, the potion master noticed that its main head was no longer humanoid. "Ahem. Creature-- retreat!" The man frowned as the creature advanced upon him. Fear quickly found itself nestled within Ivor's chest, slowly tearing apart the edges of the man's ego. "Retreat, I said! Retreat!"

"Ivor, what are you _doing?!"_ Olivia yelled.

"No need to be alarmed, my friends. I have an elixir that will destroy this creature." The man held out the potion of regeneration, and, with good aim, had tossed it _right_ at the strange block in the middle. "I-impossible, it should have worked-- I took such care-"

"Patches, the potion!" The gardener yelled, just a few feet in front of her brother. _"The potion, Axel!"_

The boy jumped as he realized what he had to do, Olivia yelling from beside him. "Throw the damn thing already!"

"I am, I _am!!_ " Axel shouted, the real potion soaring in the air, aimed straight at the strange block-

And with a new, undiscovered type of fear, the group of five (seven, including the two adults) realized the Wither had protected itself.

"Without the command block exposed... the potion is useless." Ivor gravely said, the beginnings of _regret fear flee_ forming in his mind.

Jesse gasped as she found herself a foot over the ground, quickly stuffing Reuben in her inventory- he can complain later, that's for his safety- and she screamed out to her big sister.

"LIVY _HELP!"_

At the youngest's cry, Olivia booted herself into action, grabbing her sister by the foot. "Axel, _help us!"_  
The engineer and the griefer wrapped their arms around their little sister, silently begging that their strength was enough to free their little sister.

With a gasp, Jesse was free, tears forming at the edges of her eyes.  
The gardener immediately crawled onto Axel's back like a stubborn koala, eager not to let go of him. 

"Th- thank you- thank-"

"Ivor was right about one thing!" Gabriel had spoken, addressing the entirety of the group. "I can't defeat that thing on my own. Everyone's run away, except for you." The warrior turned toward the five children, arm outstretched to them. "Will you help me? I must get to the temple-- but what needs to happen next, I can't do alone."

"Of course!" Olivia responded, arm weaved _tightly_ with Axel's. Lukas and Petra nodded, staying close to the other three. 

"Follow me, then!"   
With that, the member of the Order of the Stone led them out of the building.

Jesse took it upon herself to look towards where she'd last seen Ivor, feeling Reuben shudder within her inventory. 

And.. when their eyes met for just the _briefest_ of seconds...

Jesse's grip had _slackened,_ a third wave of nausea racking her little body. Thankfully, Axel quickly wrapped his arm around his little sister, though that didn't stop the gardener from burying her face into Axel's scarf and letting out the most terrified _wail_ she'd ever made in her life.

And just before Ivor escaped from the debris of Keynote Hall, upon meeting the eyes of the gardener, the potionologist was struck with a terror so _intense_ that his legs nearly buckled from underneath him. It made Ivor feel sick and turbulent in a way that had amplified his own increasing fear and loss of control. 

Jesse was situated over Axel's shoulder, moved to his front. The two had silently agreed that, if she were to be taking a ride, she'd be warning everyone of any incoming attacks.  
It didn't stop the outright _terror_ that racked her body once she'd seen Keynote Hall's roof _collapsing_ and giving passage to the three-headed monster. 

"TO YOUR RIGHT!"   
At the youngest's yell, everyone dove to the left, behind a vendor stall. They all dodged a tractor beam, thanks to her warning. Though... it didn't stop the vendor stall from being absolutely _demolished_ once the Wither focused its gaze over said stall.

"Liv, help me!"   
Petra shouted at the engineer once she'd been found by the tractor beam. The girl complied, though her strength was diminishing with every second. She'd rooted the two of them onto a fence post, hopeful that that would be enough to save them both.

"I can't hold on!" The engineer shouted with a growing horror, tightening her grip around the redhead's wrist. 

Both girls let out a scream once the fence _snapped_ in half, slowly dragging the two up to the monster.  
Thankfully, Gabriel was just in time, and grabbed Olivia's ankle- soon enough, the tractor beam passed harmlessly over them, dropping the three to the ground as if they were nothing more than trash. 

As the rest of the group came around, Olivia did a headcount. "We still have everybody?" 

Gabriel immediately nodded and gestured for everyone to follow him. "We must set out for my fortress-- we'll be better protected there."

The Symphony's statue was easily torn apart and swallowed by the monster, Petra quickly filling in the space to distract Olivia from its doom.

"Thanks for that just now."

"Yeah? Well now we're even!" Olivia quickly replied, though Petra had pulled Olivia into a dive with an 'incoming!' A skull had created a crater where they were _just_ standing.

Quickly getting up, the two continued to hightail it out of the convention.

With a sense of horror, Olivia realized that the gates were closing- she'd have to pick up the pace if she wanted to get out alive!  
And so she had- the engineer willed her legs to move _forward forward forward-_ and somersaulted underneath the gate _just_ before it managed to close, trapping the rest of the people within and subjecting them to nothing short of doom.

The survivors rocketed into the forest, following the lead of the world-famous warrior in hopes that they still had a chance of survival. 

"Stay together everyone!" Gabriel commanded, heavy armor creating dull _thuds_ against the forest floor. "We'll be safer once we get to my temple!" 

"Go left!"  
Screamed Jesse at her brother, who quickly complied- and dodged a flaming skull in the process.

A divide in the forest had most of the survivors splitting up. "Go!" Gabriel had yelled. "We'll meet back up on the other side!" 

The fork in the road turned out to be relatively short--  
Either that, or it was the adrenaline talking. The gardener could hardly remember anything of what went down during the short time the survivors were separated. 

"RIGHT, NOW!" Jesse screamed up at her brother, who quickly leapt that way- "LEFT!"

"Hurry! Inside the temple!" Gabriel commanded at the remaining survivors, ushering them into the building like lost sheep. "The inner chamber is built entirely of obsidian. We should be untouchable in there."   
The group approached a doorway leading to said inner chamber. The man quickly pulled a lever, revealing the underground structure-

Jesse would have had time to appreciate it if she didn't yell "INSIDE! NOW! It's looking at us!"  
The group of five rocketed into the room.

"Hurry! If you can get through the portal, you'll be safe!" 

"Uh, something's not right here!" Axel shouted, having sprinted through the portal frame already.

"It's not lit!" Jesse observed, shaking her brother's shoulder. "You have flint and steel, right? Light it already!"

"Okay, I'm lighting it-" The boy said, pulling out said tool. "I'm lighting it-"  
A purple light echoed through the room and bounced off of the skin of the teens, and though this was their first time witnessing a portal, they knew they couldn't stare long. 

"Everyone! Get in! Now!" Petra commanded, at which Axel quickly complied.  
Making sure his sister was safely secure in his arms, he ran in.

With a shout, Gabriel had landed just inside the chamber, tossed in by one of the monster's tentacles.

"Gabriel!" Olivia yelled in concern, having not realized she was already gravitating towards the man.   
She didn't have time to process the fact another tentacle _broke through the obsidian into the chamber,_ so instead the engineer leapt over it and kept running at the man. 

Thankfully, she'd reached him just in time- just when the tentacle had started dragging the warrior to his certain doom.  
A couple seconds passed, and Olivia had proved victorious- the two landed on the ground with a dull _thud._ Unfortunately, the warrior's presence was replaced by another man's, who let out a strangled yell as he was pulled out of the building. 

"Thank you..." Gabriel said, sitting up and holding his side-

 _He must've broken a rib..._ Olivia realized in horror.   
The sound of screams drew the two to look outside of the chamber- several citizens were doing their best to survive by doing the only thing they knew how- running.

"There are so many of them..." Gabriel started as he got to his feet. "I- I can't save them all. I can't stop this by myself. We need to find the others."

"Others?" Olivia asked. "As in..?"

"Soren's been missing for years." A hint of sadness was what Olivia could see from the man's eyes. "But the others-- you must seek them out. Take this amulet, and guard it with your life."  
The Warrior pulled out the world-famous Amulet out of his inventory, and all the engineer could do was _gape._

One of the gems was glowing a _fierce_ cyan, illuminating the faces of the two that beheld its beauty. Olivia quickly deducted that it was because Gabriel was in the area- his color was, after all, cyan.

"You can do this!" Gabriel spoke, putting his armored hand on her shoulder. 

"Wh- why me-" Olivia had started, interrupted by the warrior.

"I believe in you." The simple sentence made pride swell deep within the girl's chest. "Take the amulet--" and she did, trying not to go lightheaded at the fact that _all of the Order members had touched this at one point._ "Take it through the portal, and then--"

The man was interrupted by another tentacle breaking through the ceiling. Not even a second later, Olivia registered Petra's shout of exertion, and realized the redhead needed backup. Idly, Olivia noticed Lukas hadn't yet gone through the portal- why didn't he do so?  
The girl had no such time to answer questions, for the engineer had already pulled out her sword. She flattened herself to the ground to dodge one of the beast's attacks, quickly standing up before it could injure anybody. Olivia gave the tentacle a solid _wack_ with her sword- but to no avail. It only seemed to get angrier. 

It aimed an attack at Lukas- who let out a terrified scream- before Petra let out a war cry and sliced at the offending appendage with her stolen sword.

"You two--" Petra began as Lukas ran to meet up with them. "Go through the portal and meet up with the others. I'll stay here and do whatever I can. Go on, 'Liv, go!" The go-getter ran up to backup the warrior. "Get through that portal, _now!"_

"And leave you behind?!" Olivia responded, shaking her head. "Are you insane?! You've gotta head through the portal with the rest of us!"

The engineer could see Petra's face soften slightly before the redhead responded. "Sorry 'Liv- this is something I've gotta do. If anything happens, I'll meet you guys at the temple."

With an agape look, Lukas pointed behind the two of them- and Olivia immediately realized why.  
Gabriel had been caught in a tractor beam. The two girls ran to assist him- and with horror, the engineer realized Petra had gotten caught in one of the beams as well.

Olivia had no time to gape- she quickly leapt to the side, dodging another tentacle, before standing up once more. Lukas had done the same by crouching, and Olivia shouted at him from the midst of the action.

"Lukas!"  
The boy simply shook his head, his eyes filling with tears. _Oh no, he's in shock!_ Olivia realized, quickly turning back to the two warriors. She had to do this part alone, lest any one of the two gets injured. 

With a determined fury, Olivia sheathed her sword and _leapt_ at the redhead, dragging her down from the tractor beam. 

"Thanks, 'Liv- Gabriel's still up there!" Indeed he was.

"'Liv!" Gabriel yelled at the girl, not having her full name. "Go!!!" 

" _NO!"_ Screamed the engineer, rocketing to her feet and towards the beam holding Gabriel captive-

-dodging another attack from the tentacle, and standing up once more-

-before a weight struck her in the chest, sending her flying towards Lukas, and the two flying towards the Nether portal.


	11. Frozen Blood Trapped Within a Sweltering Cage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their blood has gone cold, but the environment is far from chilly.

A couple sets of familiar hands steadied the engineer as she blinked away the remnants of her stunned state.

Her body ached, and for some reason everything was so unbearably _hot._ Jesse's worried face peered down at her from the corners of her vision, and then Olivia remembered. The horrified screams as they were racing from Endercon all the way to Gabriel's temple, never looking back. Fireballs being set off in all directions, destroying any and all blocks they came in contact with. Flames licking at the heels of her feet as she ran as fast as she possibly could, but could _never seem to escape_ the way a large shadow- growing ever bigger- loomed over Olivia like a cloudy day in wait for rain.  
In this case, it was much worse- a raging, wild storm left unchecked by any higher entity, free to cause chaos and ravage the world as it pleases- if it had any desires at all, that is.

"It's okay, 'Liv. I've got you." Axel's familiar voice settled over her head like a heavy blanket, and all Olivia wanted to do was lay down and rest.  
The engineer knew full well she may never wake up if she ever succumbed to that itching desire. 

So, despite her aching body and exhausted state, the steampunk girl stood- because if Olivia wouldn't survive for herself, she could at least survive for Axel, Jesse, and Petra.  
Immediately, the glow of lava flowed into Olivia's eyes like a miniature sun, and any hope of getting rest was immediately chased away in favor of blocking her eyes from the horrid light. Untouched maroon terrain was _everywhere,_ surrounding the group in the discomfort of unfamiliarity and searing heat.

From behind her, Olivia could recognize the soft sniffles of the youngest, though they were muffled- she was likely already being comforted by Axel. Accompanying muffled whirrs, Olivia realized, came from Reuben- who was likely still in Jesse's inventory. Axel himself had Jesse in a tight hold in front of him, letting her cry into his chest.  
In the background, a constant echo could be heard, as if the searing heat bounced off the netherrack and travelled toward the group, if only to torment them for longer. 

Finally, Axel spoke up, his voice taking on his _worried_ tone- one that he only used in dire situations. Olivia was reminded that they didn't have the luxury to look around anymore.

"Where's Petra?"  
A stinging silence washed through the group at these words. Lukas- who was still on the ground at that point- sat up, winced a little and gently held at his side. Jesse had paused her tears, looking expectantly over at the two- as if her puppydog eyes could provide the answer she wanted this time. Olivia opened her mouth, clawing at words and phrases at her mind in order to respond, but... no matter how many combinations she could find, the engineer could not discover one she deemed appropriate. 

"...we did everything we could." The blonde outsider of the group responded, letting his jacket slide off his shoulders and wrap around his waist in a tie. Axel raised his eyebrow, and Olivia could immediately tell he was getting impatient. The griefer gently set down the gardener (who shuddered once she was finally standing), and stepped closer to the Ocelot. 

"What are you saying?"

"L-Livy?" Stuttered the youngest, and Olivia's heart skipped a beat. "What's.. what's he talking about?" 

Finally, Olivia found a response. "It-it was chaos. There-" she took a shaky breath, tugging at her hat. "-there wasn't much I was able to do."

"Olivia's right." Lukas backed up, tying another knot over his waist.

"Petra is still up there." Olivia responded- and with horror she realized her own words.  
The redhead was still up there, with an Eldritch abomination previously unthought of. That Wither was like no Wither the go-getter has ever encountered before, and Olivia doubted she knew how to handle it. (The engineer tried not to show her panic when she imagined Petra, with a raised eyebrow, saying 'I'll figure something out.') With a hesitant pause, she added, "Petra said she'd meet up with us at the temple if something went wrong. She's- she's probably on her way there right now."

With a tired expression, Lukas looked down at his feet, scratching at his injured elbow. "...I got scared. Just for a second."

"You got _scared?"_ Axel questioned, a dangerous tone seeping into his voice. (Nobody noticed the way Jesse shuddered a bit, despite the fact he had stepped in front of her.) The burly boy took a couple steps towards the Ocelot, and cerulean blue eyes widened.

"It- it wasn't my fault-"

"You got _scared_ and it's _not your fault?"_

"Axel, _back off."_ Olivia commanded, her arms crossed tightly against her chest. 

"No, we gotta go back!" Axel responded, his big feet stomping angrily against the searing netherrack. The griefer's pace quickened towards the portal.

The engineer stepped right in front of him, a stern look staring into his soul. "No! We just have to wait. It's dangerous out there, I'm not letting you get hurt- seriously, think about what you're walking into!"

Jesse chimed in, her usually bubbly voice broken and flat. "There's nothing you can do, Axel. You'll-" tears welled up in the girl's eyes, and her siblings both adopted the same worried expression. "-you'll just get killed!"

Perhaps the goblincore boy was too stubborn. "You don't know that- you don't know--" 

"Hey, there she is!" Lukas interjected, pointing at the portal, glee clear in his eyes.

As if on cue, everyone turned toward the portal, the same hopeful shimmer dancing in their eyes like the gentle flame of a candle. Sure enough, the portal wavered and wiggled, signaling arrival. It was almost as if time paused, tugging at the heartstrings of the four misplaced teenagers. 

"Come on, _come on..."_  
The youngest impatiently urged, her hands clutched to her chest in a fist. Any knowledge of Petra being safe was good knowledge- hell, the gardener would even take a little note saying that the redhead had to run off to safety.

All children in the vicinity were _immediately_ disappointed when a lanky, tall man with greasy hair fell out of the portal. Axel only seemed to get angrier, his brows furrowing in impatience. Lukas looked off to the side, tears gathering at the edges of his blue eyes. Olivia drew Jesse closer to her, letting the gardener give her a tight hug.  
The man slowly stepped off the ground, and Jesse couldn't help but _shudder-_ his Intent was _too strong, too much._

"You again." Seethed Ivor, his murky brown eyes glaring daggers into the engineer's. The alchemist opened his mouth to retort again, but didn't have the chance to-

-for a tentacle suddenly _SURGED_ out of the portal, all five people getting knocked to the ground in either surprise or the appendage itself. Screams came from each of the children, though Ivor adopted an equally surprised face. Olivia had to duck- the tentacle had aimed for her head, as she was its nearest target.  
The appendage must have overshot its trajectory, for it found itself _squeezing_ at the portal not a moment later, likely in thought that it had somebody in its grasp.

The portal _shuddered_ at the action, the Intent-filled bonds holding the framework together _snapping and cracking_ too quickly for anyone to keep up with. Its purple light flickered and faded, _flickered and faded..._ and, as if a rubber band pulled to its utmost limit, the portal frame _snapped._  
The purple light cut out suddenly, and for a moment the five people could hear a truly horrifying roar from the Eldritch abomination, until the link between dimensions cut out with a deafening _slink._

Once the survivors regained their bearings, they opened their eyes- only to spot one deep purple tentacle, sliced away from the storm as a consequence to its actions. Likely the only consequence it would have to put up with for a while. Axel gaped at the broken portal, a hopeless look pouring into his eyes as he looked over at his siblings. Petra was... was _still up there._ And she would be for a while.  
Olivia placed a hand on the shoulder of the youngest, noticing how her eyes had glossed over as if frozen in time. It... it seemed as though Jesse was in shock, and would be for a little while. This... _scared_ Olivia. 

"...Ivor." Olivia brought herself to say, gently pushing the youngest behind her. 

The alchemist's deep, murky brown eyes stared into the engineer's own, and Olivia couldn't help but feel shaken to the core. What, exactly, had caused this man to be so... angry?  
"You ruined everything." 

Axel's eyebrows furrowed once again at the words, his cheeks beginning to burn in anger. Olivia returned a glare back at the man, and the alchemist seemed to recoil a bit before responding.  
"Don't pretend you don't know, thief. You took my most valuable potion! Everything went-"

Axel was fast when he wanted to be.  
He knew this fact well, as he had utilized speed time and time again to escape from some mobs or an awry bomb of his. Though it seemed the goblincore boy had no desire of stopping today, for he only knew _rage rage rage-_

The sound of a solid punch echoed through the Nether, the burly boy looming over Ivor in a fashion meant to protect his siblings. Axel stepped back, as if daring the potionologist to make another move. From behind him, the three other children stood, gaping, expecting the man to snap back.  
A long-suffering silence fell over the group, and it had felt like hours before somebody finally spoke again.

"...more needless violence." Ivor finally seethed. "It solves _nothing."_

Olivia spoke up from behind Axel. "Oh, and a- a Wither _DOES?"_

Ivor ignored her in favor of imparting hypocritical wisdom. "Learn the lesson now, else you'll share the con-goer's fates. There's nothing left up there.... nothing but that.. Witherstorm."

"Why are we wasting time talking to this guy?" Axel asked, already prepared to drag his sisters away from the creepy old man. "We have to go get Petra."

"The girl..." Ivor thoughtfully spoke, back turned away from the group. "I saw her."

"Wh-what-" Lukas tried to begin.

"While I was running toward the portal, I passed her. She was running in the opposite direction. Such bravery.... of course, there's a fine line between bravery and stupidity." Ivor's head turned to look over his shoulder, to look _through_ the gaggle of teenagers that he has wronged so harshly. "And your friend has crossed it."

Exhaustion, anger, and sadness permeated every bone of every child in the vicinity. The youngest spoke up for the group, shivering long forgotten in the face of the one who took away everything she'd ever known.  
"You're a coward." 

Intent spilled into the air with those simple three words, and though the gardener's voice broke like panes of glass, her point was as sharp as shards. A small shudder seemed to rack through Ivor's body before he spoke once more. 

"Maybe.... but I survived. And that's what counts."

"You are, singlehandedly, the _most_ selfish, inexplicably inhumane person I have ever met. I hope you get help one day, for your _lack_ of human sympathy has just killed thousands of innocent people- and _each and every one of them are on your head."_ The rest of the group gaped at Jesse. This was the angriest they'd ever seen her, and like a wasp coming for its prey, the girl continued. "I'd seriously like to know what happened to make you _this_ dead inside, and if you are even capable of staying up late at night, thinking about the consequences of your actions. There's more to life than survival, you _vile, vile_ human being."

The girl let the words sink in, and Ivor _visibly_ shuddered- only for a second- before turning stone-cold once more. "Without survival, there _is_ no life. Through that tunnel-" he nodded towards said tunnel, his muddy eyes glancing over it for just a second. "-is a network of mine carts built by the Order of the Stone. It's your only way out."

"And yours?" Evenly replied Jesse (her bow spinning wildly at the end of her braid.) 

The alchemist's eyes narrowed. "Don't worry yourself with things you'll never get answers to."

A sudden wail cut through the air- as if a knife through a block of butter. The group immediately recoiled at the noise, gazing around warily. Ivor- the Spawner of the Storm himself- simply readjusted his posture, reaching for something out of his inventory.

"I would wish you good luck, but luck won't carry you through the Nether." He pulled out a potion, swiftly uncorked it, and downed it in one breath. One last sentence poured from the man. "You have my sympathies."  
He didn't sound very sympathetic.

From behind the group, the same wail sounded out- and they all turned to see a ghastly creature high up in the heated air, body made of nothing but ethereal steam. Indeed, it was a Ghast- and a very territorial one, at that.


End file.
